Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 8 July 2021

Committee on Public Petitions

Direct Provision Policy and Related Matters: Discussion

Dr. John Lannon:

We do not see any immediate improvements or changes. As Mr. Henderson said, there are 80 centres around the country, and the standards in those are very varied and the access to services really varied as well. We highlighted a number of key issues regarding mental health difficulties and direct provision. One of them was the unsuitable accommodation. Another was the delays in case processing which, as Mr. Henderson outlined, has exacerbated and contributed to what is in effect retraumatising for many people who have been living in direct provision centres for years. Substance misuse and addiction is an area of particular concern to us. This was highlighted by the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland in a 2009 position paper.

We have found testimony from people who have said they have become brain-dead while living in direct provision. It will not be fixed or changed immediately. There are major problems in accessing services. We welcome that a pilot project has commenced on vulnerability assessments. However, it is all very well to do vulnerability assessments but we would emphasise access to supports and services required in the follow-up are essential, particularly for people who have experienced trauma. That is not happening now. We found people who self-declared as having mental health challenges when they initially came to the reception centre in Balseskin were still transferred to centres where they did not have adequate access to services. There are a number of issues involved. As I said with substance misuse and addiction, there is a cause and effect factor, with mental heath problems. Regarding access to services, mainstream mental health services are in principle available to people in direct provision but, as the Chairman said, they are stretched, strained or inadequate for people in general in Ireland. On top of that, there are language issues and the fact people do not have any awareness of the mainstream services. The lack of access to multilingual services is a big issue. We have been contacted by people working in crisis intervention support services who said they do not know how to support people. The use of interpreters is problematic and there are cultural barriers. A great deal of work needs to be done in this area. Because of the length of time people have spent in direct provision, some of them are in really bad places and, as Mr. Henderson said, in many cases, they are suicidal. Organisations like ours are trying to do their best to stem the tide in many cases by providing people with access to minimal supports and services.