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

My time is ticking away. I recognise that there is a lot happening, not least Deputy Paul Murphy's attendance in the courts. Missing Deputies are in the Four Courts with the Jobstown people. There is a great deal happening but this is important.

The direct provision system does not work.

11 o’clock

It has been in existence since 1999. Fianna Fáil brought it in and maintained it for most of that period. I welcome the Deputies' Damascene conversion on this issue, but they maintained it for a long time. What we are looking at, as declared by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon who delivered the report, is an inhumane, degrading system. I will quote Mr. Justice McMahon, "These people are like ghosts. They are dehumanised and they are depressed." Even though the Minister of State cannot answer me now, he might answer in writing whether he agrees with that statement from Mr. Justice McMahon, and more importantly, would the Minister of State agree with him that we should give a complete amnesty to everybody who has been in that system for over five years? Of course a reception centre is needed for refugees and asylum seekers when they arrive in this country, but they should not be left there to rear their children and live their lives in it for a long time. One woman I met has a 12 year old daughter who was born in the reception centre. She only got out of it when the child was 12. That is wrong and the mark of that will be left on that child and others for a long time.

The other issue, mentioned by other Deputies, is the question of the right to work and right to study. With every hungry belly comes a pair of hands. The reason for the high levels of mental ill health and depression in direct provision centres is the denial of the basic human ability to do things, to toil, to be able to change the world around oneself and to make an impact on the planet. That is what distinguishes us as human beings. They are not allowed to do that at all. Of course they are depressed and mental health levels are very low. At the very least, we need to recognise that reception centres such as this are inappropriate for people who are going to stay in the State for long periods. They need to be given the freedom to work to make a contribution to society, and they certainly need to be given the freedom to use their brain, study, do third level degrees and improve their lives. We would be making a huge step forward if we could provide them with even that, but we cannot because of the nature of the direct provision system itself.

I notice that the Minister of State referred to the housing crisis many times in his speech. I want to tackle an argument that exists in society. I get it myself and I am sure I am going to get it after this debate today. How can we look after them when we cannot look after our own? I want to reject this idea, because our own are not being correctly looked after, if there is such a thing as our own. I regard everybody here as my own. Those I do not regard as my own are the people benefiting from the low corporation tax and refusing to pay it, the bankers and the developers who brought this country into a crisis and the people who are at the receiving end of the scandals around NAMA at the moment, who are profiting hugely from this. I regard everyone who lives in this country as my own. We would be able to look after them all if we were to justly and correctly implement a share-out of the wealth and to take back the empty properties, fix them up and to make housing accommodation available for all. We have more than enough resources to do so and to build decent social housing.

We cannot declare in the interim that one section of the population has to be isolated and treated in this way away from the rest of the population. I will reiterate something said by others here. The figures of profits made from the direct provision system over the years are outrageous. The Mosney direct provision centre was paid €100 million by the State and has made a donation of €4,000 to the Fianna Fáil Party. Aramark had a turnover of €223 million in 2013. Barlow Properties received €40 million from the State to run five centres. East Coast Catering received €90 million between 2000 and 2013. When the Minister of State appeals to people here to give him ideas, and he said he would welcome applications from groups and organisations with proposals to provide, run and manage accommodation centres, I would say that while we can give proposals, they will not be to manage and run accommodation centres that intern people for decades. I am sure there are organisations which have wonderful ways of treating people humanely. The main thing is to give them the right to work, housing and study. Once that is done, then there is a community which is contributing fairly to society.

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