Dr. John Lannon:

As Senator Murphy said, we know each other all right. I am happy to say that.

In terms of integration, the difficulties for international protection applicants begin with the fact that they are trying to survive on €38 a week, living in institutionalised settings, often in remote locations that do not have adequate supports or services. In some of the communities and locations that we both know where there was discussion about setting up a direct provision centre, there was clearly a need that had not been addressed to engage in discussion and dialogue with all stakeholders – the people who would be expected to live in the congregated settings but also the local communities - in terms of ensuring adequacy of services and supports. The chances are that in many cases the local GP, crèches and everything else are already stretched so this is something that we need to recognise and understand.

We have some wonderful experiences in Limerick of children from the direct provision centres going to the same crèches as others and now going to the same summer camps. We are happy to see that we have children whose parents may have come from Syria, Afghanistan or other parts of the world that are likely to be playing Gaelic football in another few years. This is something that we do have to work on. We must ensure that any elements of systemic or institutional racism that might exclude people who are international protection applicants are addressed. We have a number of initiatives that are happening. The consultation in the national action plan against racism is something that is of relevance here as well.

Food is often an issue in direct provision centres. In many cases, people have own-door access and they can cook their own food. In other cases, we have what is called "independent" living, which is not what we would understand as independent. It refers to a centre that has a food hall or an accessible shop where people can buy a limited amount of food and cook that in a shared kitchen. In other places, people are queuing up in a canteen to get food that is not appropriate, not only to their culture but to their dietary needs, which are often not addressed. That is problematic. We find that children are not eating, and adults are unable to eat. This is also exacerbated by the stresses, strains and anxiety that people are suffering as a consequence of their experiences before coming to Ireland and having to live in direct provision.

We often find as well that communications between centre management and IPAS is not as immediate or fluid as it should be. That can result in misunderstandings in some cases and people not being given access to centres or, as Senator Murphy stated, in effect being tossed out on the street. There have been cases of that, which is extremely worrying. We have quite a bit of work to do as we look forward with the White Paper, which gives us an opportunity to put proper measures in place to ensure that communities across Ireland where protection applicants or anybody else will be living have adequate supports and services that are appropriate to the needs of the people who will be using them.