Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Everyone agrees that decision-making needs to be significantly expedited. I thoroughly agree, but my question deals with existing conditions because the people in direct provision accommodation still face a long period of time in the system. Does the Minister agree that the living conditions enforced on people as a consequence of the current method used are inhuman? As she noted, 38% of those in direct provision accommodation are children. Is it not unsuitable for children to be in such an environment for three to five years in which they will never know a mother or father who cooks a meal because it is not possible to do so in such cases, in which they will never see a parent or an elder sibling go out to work because they are prohibited from doing so, in which there is very little privacy and no right to education resulting in de-skilling and in which there is isolation from society? Does the Minister agree that this is inhuman and should be changed while she is trying to deal with a process to hear people's stories?

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