Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response. It is vital that the NGOs are represented on the working group and I welcome that they will be present. It is very important that the group's composition should not be biased against non-governmental organisations and weighted towards Departments. I am a bit worried that the terms of reference are to consider how the system can be improved, as the system cannot be improved, so the working group should be considering alternatives to the direct provision system. At the very least, the report should indicate how to achieve the alternative. There is no doubt that the system has not worked and it is causing very serious harm to a very large number of people.

I have worked with asylum seekers in direct provision since they came to Donegal town in 2000. I am thankful the centre there closed in the past couple of years, and I would like to see all the centres across the country close because it would be the only fair and reasonable outcome from any review. We should not only consider improvements and we should examine alternatives. I ask the Minister to consider including that in the terms of reference for the working group.

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