Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I believe the case was taken by a Burmese man who had been in the system for eight years. He spoke about an almost complete loss of autonomy. He spoke about depression. He spoke about the effects that being forced not to work for that period of time had on his sense of self-worth. Approximately 5,000 people are trapped in this system, and more than one third of them are children.

It is a shame that successive Governments in the past 17 years have kept this system in place. I hope this is an opportunity to end the direct provision system, as well as ending the ban on the right to work for asylum seekers. I look forward to the Minister of State's comments.

See this speech in context