Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I appreciate the witnesses' attendance. I am sorry that I was a little late and missed their presentation. There was an interesting article in The Irish Timesyesterday relating to immigrants coming into this country, but not specifically relating to direct provision. The article's gist was that Ireland is a very welcome country for those arriving as either refugees or migrants - I have a difficulty with the word "refugee" always being used to describe migrants - but that after the initial welcome, we cease to be supportive. Slightly outside direct provision, but aligned to it, we tend to place migrants in geographical areas all together rather than trying to integrate them. Given the long periods that people spend in direct provision, is there more that we should do in the centres vis-à-visintegration in order that people become more involved in local communities, rather than being forced to live within their own community?