Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's statements on this subject since he took office. I referenced them last week during Question Time with the Minister. I must also put on the record again the sheer frustration we felt when we raised the matter with the previous Minister, Deputy Shatter, over the past three years. Both in this Chamber and in committee rooms, he repeatedly defended this system. He acknowledged some of the challenges but felt it was the best we could offer. It has been a really frustrating number of years, which is why a fresh approach is welcome. I believe the Minister of State will seek to address this issue, but I am a bit concerned about the Minister. I felt she was not using the same emphasis as the Minister of State in her statements last week. On reflection afterwards, I was fearful that we might not have a sense of urgency around this - a need to catch up with three lost years. I made the point to the Minister that, based on her response, I felt that there was a rowing back from some of the statements the Minister of State had made publicly and that there was a more cautious approach and a qualification around some of the comments that were being made. This is why I welcome this motion tonight. There is no legislative footing for these direct provision centres and they can be removed if the Government deems it necessary. I appreciate that the Government needs to put in place some type of system and to deal with the fact that there have been these crazy delays in the application process and that appeals run on for years.

In 1987, I read a book by the late Ray Crotty which revealed that since the foundation of the Irish State, half of Irish citizens who survived childhood - not factoring in those who died during childhood - emigrated. From 1922 to 1987 - 65 years - half of all citizens who survived childhood emigrated from Ireland. That is our legacy. Today, as we speak, emigration is happening again - to Australia, the US, Canada, Great Britain and all over the world. Yet again, we are losing our young people to emigration. We would never for a moment tolerate our young people being treated the way we have treated people who have come to this country. Can one imagine "Liveline" with Joe Duffy and the discussion on every local radio station? There would be documentaries every week on every station in this State telling the stories. We would not put up with it. We would have dealt with it. Of all the nations on this earth, I would say that per capita, very few have our emigration levels. There are very few countries that have had to rely more on their brothers and sisters internationally to give them a future.

I am not advocating an open-door system. There needs to be a process to ensure that people who genuinely need asylum are assessed properly. We have left people in these centres with food that is not culturally applicable. I listened to one of the reports on RTE radio about deep-fried food and frozen food served every day to people who are used to healthy and diverse choices. This is one of the less serious criticisms. I am talking about the way children are treated within the system. This has been ongoing for years and years. The way children are corralled into tight spaces is an appalling indictment of the way we made up that policy 14 years ago in response to very different circumstances. We have not dealt with the fact that they have changed dramatically.

I know the Minister of State is sincere about this and is trying to address it, but I hope his senior colleague has the same sense of urgency about this issue. This will be proved in the next period of time. We need to give the Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner oversight of the direct provision system. They have repeatedly asked for it. The Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, will appear before the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions tomorrow and I know he is going to ask for it again. He is also the Information Commissioner. We need to give oversight of this system to the Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner because it is public money but, more importantly, because it is about people's rights. While they are not citizens of Ireland, we have received a welcome all over the world. The least we can do when people are waiting for a decision is to treat them with dignity and have oversight of that. I wish the Minister of State good luck with his work, and if he continues in the same light he will have the support of this side of the House.

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