Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The direct provision system has been an outrage of State-sanctioned human rights abuses against men, women and children. It ensures that vulnerable people who are trapped in the system suffer again and again. It is a system of State coercion, disenfranchisement and enforced poverty, run by private companies for huge profit which could not care less about the people they are supposed to be looking after. The plight of these people, trapped for up to a decade, acts as a deterrent to people from coming here - maybe it is intentional. On top of this, the Government's pitiful response to the housing crisis has led to many people who have been granted asylum having to stay in direct provision, because there is no place for them to go.

The fact that the Government has failed to deal with the housing crisis means direct provision will not be closed any time soon. In light of that, I ask the Taoiseach to address two issues. Our office spoke to Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, this morning. The council sees no vulnerability assessments being done, as were envisaged by Article 22 of the directive. Two other groups confirmed this view in their submission to the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality this morning. Assessments of primary healthcare needs are being done by the Safetynet group and these are clearly required but they are not vulnerability assessments as envisaged by the directive. A much more comprehensive and wide-ranging assessment is envisaged by the directive and required by law. A victim of torture will require intensive counselling and support but we do not even carry out an assessment capable of identifying what a person's problems might have been. Some people have seen family members shot in front of them, or drown beside them in the ocean. Article 22 requires vulnerability assessments but, despite the fact that the Government transposed the directive into domestic law 12 months ago, they are still not happening. We are in breach of EU law. When will a fit-for-purpose system to carry out these vulnerability assessments, in accordance with the wide-ranging and generous spirit envisaged by Article 22 of the directive, be in place?

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