Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Committee on Public Petitions

Update on Direct Provision: The Ombudsman

Mr. Sean Garvey:

As Mr. Tyndall stated, we are not familiar with the issue of residents facing issues coming back into centres having had treatment, be it mental health treatment or other treatment. That has not been brought to us. What we have seen is, as Mr. Tyndall noted, people having difficulties accessing appropriate health services, including mental health services. What we do in such cases is to attempt to link that person in to his or her appropriate treatment. We succeeded in so doing in several such cases. However, we have not encountered the particular scenario of people who, having received treatment, come back to centres and are in some way disadvantaged. I am not for a second saying it does not happen, but it has not been brought to our attention as yet.