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

I thank all Members for their contributions to the debate over the last two nights. It has been very heartening for me to hear the contributions that have come from all sides of the House in condemning the system of direct provision. It is a very powerful message to send that there is across-the-board political support for the abolition of a system that is unjust, inhumane and completely wrong. Perhaps I should apologise to some of the Fine Gael Members in the House for expecting that politically they would be slightly more disposed to a hard-line approach to asylum seekers and direct provision. It was heartening to hear some of the very emotional contributions from some Members, particularly Deputy Regina Doherty, who gave a powerful example of how a seven-year-old child was treated at a so-called reception centre. She had a slight slip when she used the words "detention centre" rather than "reception centre". That encapsulates exactly what the direct provision system is.

I must remark that it is disappointing that the Minister with the executive power to deal with the system did not attend and contribute to the debate tonight. I have a great deal of respect for the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, who is genuine in her attempts to reform the Department of Justice and Equality and the justice system. It would have helped her to be here tonight to listen to the contributions of her party and Government colleagues across the board on the direct provision system and to hear what needs to change and the political support for that. It has become clear to me over the last two nights of this debate that there is a political will to deal with this system and reform it to end direct provision.

The blockages are within officialdom, the Civil Service. They are the ones who operate the system across the board.

It is interesting to know, having listened to some of the contributions, what is driving the mindset that allows the direct provision system to be supported. In his contribution the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, said we could not operate a system which left us open to being targeted. I do not believe the Minister believes that statement. In the debate last night Deputy Niall Collins of Fianna Fáil said we could not be seen as a soft target. The Sinn Féin spokesperson, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, qualified what he was saying by stating his party was not advocating an open door policy. That is the mindset of the civil servants who operate the system. They have allowed it to develop and introduced it across the State. They have put 4,300 people in a situation where their human rights are being abused on a daily basis. Their right to a family life, dignity and self-respect is being denied across the board.

The motion is very reasonable. It provides for what will probably be the outcome of the working group process the Minister has started if it is operated properly, but why wait six months, one year or 18 months? The Minister should withdraw his amendment and accept the motion to allow us end the system once and for all and bring dignity to the people suffering under it. There are no floodgates waiting to be opened. There are no hoards of asylum seekers waiting in the middle of the Atlantic to come here looking for this open door policy. This policy is the result of a mindset within the Civil Service. As mentioned by a number of speakers, it is institutional racism. It is a system that is being operated in a racist way. There is political support across the board to end it.

I know that the Minister does not have the Executive power and that if it was in his gift, he would do it, but he must take the political support he has received tonight, ram it down the throats of the civil servants and show them that there is the political will which they cannot hold back or resist any longer. They have to change the system and do the humane thing because if they do not, in ten or 15 years time another Taoiseach will be standing on the opposite side of the House apologising on behalf of the people for what we all know is a system that cannot continue and that will destroy lives in the future if we allow it to do so. The Minister should take the support he has received from all sides of the House tonight and tell those back in the Department that the system will change from this point on.

See this speech in context