Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I again ask the Tánaiste to comment on some of the reports. I refer to a confidential Government report in 2013 which stated that the system was not ideal but it saved us money, and we did not want to change it in case we attracted other asylum seekers from the United Kingdom. Would the Tánaiste agree that, in reality, we are reinforcing the fortress Europe idea that we want to keep them out as much as possible despite the fact that many of them are fleeing war, famine, dictatorships, etc., that even when they get here we treat them as less than human or second-class people, and that there is an outrageous amount of money being made by companies providing direct provision? It is not even State provision. We are handing over taxpayers' money to those making vast profits to keep people in conditions which can only be termed as inhumane and psychologically damaging, and very damaging to children who grow up in the system. We also have approximately 400 children born in this country in a complete limbo as to who and what they are because they are not entitled to citizenship and they cannot go back to where their parents came from.

See this speech in context