Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The first time the Minister of State and I met was at NUI Galway last year at the launch of the inclusive centenaries scholarships. It was a great day of celebration when scholarships were announced for young asylum seekers living in direct provision. NUI Galway is providing scholarships for people who have done incredibly well in education, giving them the opportunity to go forward. The young people told powerful stories, such as the first time Connacht won a European rugby competition, and how the young men sat in their bedrooms having to watch it on their phones while all of their friends were able to watch it into houses. Some of the schoolchildren in the Gallery possibly do not really understand what we are speaking about with regard to direct provision. Children in direct provision have problems with studying. They face real challenges trying to study for the junior or leaving certificate when they go home in the evenings to their shared bedrooms. However, they have attained incredibly high standards, which was acknowledged by NUI Galway, which has opened up an opportunity for children whereby they will be funded to go to third level college. The young people also spoke very passionately about their lack of access to playgrounds. I am a mother of three children and people can take this for granted. We all have back gardens where we are able to put up our slides and our swings. The children living in direct provision do not have this opportunity.

I acknowledge the work being done by the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton. He is completely compassionate and engaging and has done much work over the past 12 months, which as Deputy O'Loughlin has commented, can be seen. Much work remains to be done and nobody is denying this, but as spokesperson for children my emphasis is on their opportunity to study and to be like every other child in the country. We have invited them in and it is up to us to support them.

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