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

The programme for Government commits to ending the direct provision system and replacing it with a new international protection accommodation system based on a not-for-profit approach. Currently, in the Skellig Star accommodation centre in Cahersiveen, 32 people are facing their third day without food. They have gone on hunger strike, which is a drastic decision to take, to force the issue of their need to be moved out of that rotten accommodation. The owner of the company that runs the centre, Paul Collins, has rationed their water to 1 litre a day. They would do better in a refugee camp in Lebanon. This centre has the disgraceful record of being, according to a consultant in public health medicine, completely inappropriate for accommodation during a pandemic. The residents need to be moved out. Their demand is simple, namely, that they be moved to own-door accommodation, which is available in Tullamore and Mosney. The Department of Justice and Equality is once again letting these people down. That they are on their third day of a hunger strike deserves a response from the Government.

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