Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Technical Group, in particular Deputy Pringle, on introducing this important motion, which has facilitated an important and constructive debate on this issue.

Any Member who has ever had contact with asylum seekers would agree the system is in need of urgent reform. The system is a mess and people are spending too much time in direct provision centres. In some cases I have come across, people have spent up to nine years in direct provision. The conditions asylum seekers must endure in these centres are appalling and the weekly payments they receive are derisory and an insult to those in receipt of them. In many ways, this payment is reflective of an outdated and inadequate system.

I welcome the appointment of the Minister of State to this role and was pleased to see him allocated with this portfolio because I know from what he has said here in the House and from reading some of his statements on this issue that he is passionate about the matter, has a genuine interest in making progress in this area and is sincere about dealing with it.

The system as it has operated for the past 14 years is unfit for purpose. We have treated occupants of these centres in a way that can only be described as shameful. Reflection on our history suggests we should know better as many countries around the world have welcomed Irish people with open arms over the years. Therefore, we have a moral obligation to protect vulnerable people who come to our State fleeing from their country. In recent times, a light has been shone on episodes in our nation's past when networks of immoral and dehumanising institutions were allowed to prevail against a background of indifference on the part of the State. The shameful details that emerged on Magdalen laundries and, more recently, mother and baby homes have shocked the nation and ought to weigh heavily on our collective conscience as we deal with asylum seekers. That those dark institutions were allowed to operate as and for as long as they did is an indelible black mark against us as a people and a State.

Our past failings should heighten our resolve to ensure that no such failings occur again. Regretfully, having listened to the contributions from Members on all sides, I must wonder whether we have adequately learned from our mistakes or whether we are in the process of failing another vulnerable section of society by consigning asylum seekers to a punitive existence behind the closed doors of direct provision centres.

I welcome the appointment of the working group and hope it does not delay in reporting back to the Minister of State so that we can move quickly and make progress on this matter.

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