Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister for attending. I will place on record that I do not underestimate for a second the challenge he has faced in the past year. I appreciate the efforts of his Department. We contribute in this committee in the hope of being collaborative and not to take away from the efforts of the Minister and his Department. It would be remiss of me not to mention the report card the Children's Rights Alliance published today. Has the Minister seen it, especially the recommendations regarding children in the international protection system? The first relates to an international protection child payment for all. Did the Minister see these recommendations? Does he wish to comment on any of them? A score card was published. The recommendations include that the Government should introduce an international protection child payment for all children living in the international protection system; the Government should commence HIQA inspections of existing international protection centres against national standards; and the Government should develop a new agency to deal with refugee accommodation with specific expertise in planning, procurement and construction and, in the interim, hire experts in planning, construction, housing and procurement to deal with refugee accommodation. How far away are we from these recommendations?