Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This is Ireland in 2019; this is direct provision. Direct provision is parents sharing bedrooms with their children, it is kitchens running out of food and it is hotel signs stating, “Use the back stairs and do not enter public areas." This is Ireland; this is 2019.

To say direct provision is appalling, or to say that it is a disgraceful way to treat human beings, does not adequately capture what this system is doing. It is so much worse than that. It is stories of real people and their experiences, not statistics. Direct provision is hotels shipping people off to another location for a weekend so they can make more money by hosting a wedding. It is mothers and daughters walking five miles on a dangerous road into town to purchase essential sanitary products. It is gay men being forced to share a bedroom with homophobic males. There are families in direct provision limbo, some for over eight years, with children who were so young when they arrived in Ireland that they do not remember life outside direct provision. Eight years is an entire childhood. This is 2019. This is direct provision in Ireland.

This system is a clear example of Government "anti-policy" at its worst. What do I mean by that? I mean it is a system that exists because of a failure to make any decision to do otherwise. Direct provision was always meant to be a "temporary measure", a hasty response to an issue that demanded a far better and comprehensive solution. There is nothing temporary about what direct provision has become - in essence, a lengthy period of detention for people who have committed no crime, who have no greater desire other than to live safely without violence and persecution.

Just as we look back in horror at some of the institutional abuse the Irish State perpetrated in the past against some of our most vulnerable, we will, I firmly believe, look back 30 years from now and hang our heads in shame at how we sentenced vulnerable men, women and children fleeing unimaginable situations to what one asylum seeker described as "worse than prison”, adding that “at least in prison you have your release date." Dr. Margaret Wheatley, at a recent talk in UCD, summed it up when she said all that people want is to earn, learn and belong. Limiting asylum seekers' opportunities to work takes away their dignity. Their access to education is sporadic and limited, and life on €38.80 per week in remote rural areas prevents any chance of belonging or getting to know the local community. This is not the Ireland I know. There is no céad míle fáilte in direct provision.

I find it unbelievable that we, as a country, which is so familiar with the concept of leaving these shores to find a better life across the world, have let this happen. Asylum seekers are invisible and excluded from society. The process of separation and exclusion leads to othering of these people and creates a "them" and "us". We, as a country, are warehousing people: asylum seekers who have survived torture, sexual violence, inhumane and degrading treatment, who came to our country seeking refuge. They have been stripped of any right to privacy, private family life and the right to unrestricted work. Where are the psychological supports for the survivors of torture or sexual violence? Where are the suitably qualified translators they so badly need? Where is the access to legal representation to help them navigate through the exhausting, harrowing process of seeking asylum, and why does the process take so long?

People living in direct provision should be supported to access the community in order to form social and economic ties. We must support communities that host asylum seekers and we must create opportunities for asylum seekers to socialise and make connections with the local community. That will tackle racism and fear of the unknown that is present among some communities in Ireland and will prevent a language of hate taking hold. We must support the direct provision centres themselves, through ensuring they have adequate education and childcare facilities, healthcare, shops and amenities. We must make transport more accessible. The often long distance between direct provision centres and towns and cities means that transport costs can be a significant barrier to accessing the local community and engaging with local people and employment and education opportunities. Transport services to and from direct provision centres should be cheaper and more frequent. Given that asylum seekers only receive €38.80 a week, they should be entitled to free public transport. Free and regular English classes should be provided in direct provision centres to facilitate integration in the community, and as a means to address the isolation and marginalisation perceived by many who seek asylum.

The EU directive on reception conditions for asylum seekers refers to the need to provide an adequate standard of living, but asylum seekers are being crammed into bedrooms in order to maximise profit for the private owners or landlords, as they are paid per head rather than on adequate space per person. Where are the inspections of premises to ensure safe, clean, warm, living conditions? Surely the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government should have a role in this regard. Access to education is limited in direct provision. Schools are not free in Ireland. There are costs relating to transport, books, uniforms, or any other number of fees and charges that parents of school-goers have to face on an ongoing basis. How can parents afford to send their children to school when they are denied the right to a steady job? The lack of ability to work and study results in asylum seekers becoming deskilled, bored, depressed, and when mental health issues develop there is little or no access to mental health supports. Permission to work must be extended, and made less restrictive, as that would allow people to leave direct provision centres. We have a duty to process applications for asylum in a timely manner. No one should be waiting even a fraction of the time it takes but many asylum seekers live in direct provision for years and years. That is wrong, and it must end.

We should never tolerate or defend the use of inflammatory, divisive or dangerous language from any Member of our national Parliament inside or outside this Chamber. I am reminded of a poem that is mounted on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York that is often quoted by those who recognise the value of compassion and empathy for those who live in more fortunate countries when we think of our obligations to those fleeing from disaster:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

We do not just need direct provision to end, we need to overhaul the entire asylum-seeker process and to bring dignity, respect, safety, empathy and kindness into how we treat those who come here to this country, fleeing from persecution and terror, and to treat them with the very basic decency to which every person should be entitled.

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