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

I will not make any suggestion concerning how some of the horror stories we have heard in recent weeks about our past and how children were treated can be equated with what is happening today. However, I will make the general point that we have learned lessons from the horrors inflicted on people, including women and children, particularly in the past. Taking into account what I said, I put to the Minister that we should realise people are being damaged by living conditions in direct provision accommodation.

It has a dehumanising effect on children. Is the Minister aware that in some cases women, in particular, are more vulnerable in these circumstances? Where they might be subject to violence and assault, these conditions exacerbate that. That is what we are told by those who work with those in direct provision and we have to take this seriously. As well as pushing forward on the processing of people seeking refuge, this issue needs to be urgently examined and direct provision changed fundamentally.

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