Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 November 2021

Committee on Public Petitions

Direct Provision Policy and Related Matters: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Fergal Lynch:

It is a challenging deadline, about which there is no doubt, but it is one of the first things that we very much want to do. Perhaps as the first step to that, much earlier than that, what we hope to be able to do in the current system is to phase out the use of emergency centres. At one stage we had more than 40 of them and we are now down to 24. We have closed 19 of them. The reason I mention those specifically is that they were ones where a deal of congregation would have taken place. We are pleased at the progress in that regard. However, we are under no illusions and we know that it is a big challenge for us to work on this so that we can phase out congregation settings. It is one part, and a key part, of what we will be doing under our implementation plan by the end of 2024.