Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It is a matter for the Minister in terms of what he can or cannot do. He has been in discussions. I am not getting into that, but I do not believe that there will be any changes, to be frank. We have considerable guidelines that we have followed under both the UN and with our own policies. We have been fair and generous with direct provision in this country. We have not taken the routes of other countries as we do not agree with them. Direct provision is a costly system and we operate that rather than direct payments. There is a substantial cost involved. If we took the opposite route, direct payments would be made rather than give direct provision and €19. We provide accommodation and food and we have substantially improved direct provision each year over the past few years. I am not doing the budget for the Department, but that is the principle.

Our asylum system compares to the best in the world in terms of fairness, support and back-up services. We do not have to make any apology in that regard.

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