Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies for their detailed contributions to this important debate. Deputy Connolly listed out the range of individuals and groups that have contributed to the knowledge we have as an Oireachtas and a Government about the failures of direct provision. She is correct to acknowledge the work of the likes of Mr. Justice McMahon and his group, the previous Committee on Justice and Equality that launched its report, and all of those who worked on Catherine Day's group. I hope what will be different this time is that the determination to act on this is contained in a programme for Government and in a White Paper that was issued early in the context of a Government. It is contained in the moving of the accommodation element to a new Department that is focused on the human rights of individuals, be they of children, those in direct provision or those with a disability. I have no doubt the Deputy and other Deputies will continue to put the pressure on over the coming three and half years, and that is appropriate.

I want to talk to the broader issue of housing first because the likes of Deputies Daly and Lahart raised the issue. The work of implementing the significant policy change contained in the White Paper will take place in conjunction with the wider actions we are taking to address the housing crisis in this country, and they are laid out in the programme for Government. These include an additional 50,000 social houses, an affordable housing scheme, the introduction of a cost rental Vienna model to address issues of affordability in rental accommodation, and the continued roll-out of the housing first approach in the context of those who are homeless and living rough. That focus on the housing crisis in the country was backed up in the 2021 budget by the significant capital allocation and the current allocation the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, received and is spending. My Department will have a budget to provide for the accommodation that is set out in the White Paper separate to that budget for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Whereas the actions have to take place in all-of-government approach, they are separate in that my Department will look after the housing for those in international protection, whereas the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will look after housing for those on the social housing lists and other elements of housing.

Deputy Pringle spoke of his experience and I recognise the extensive work he has done in welcoming the new centre in Letterkenny. That new centre is an improvement on those that exist but that is not the model we are setting in the White Paper. The White Paper is clear that phase 1 involves reception and integration centres for a short time period of four months with significant wrap-around services provided within them and then a move to accommodation in the community. That accommodation will consist of independent living that will be supported, it is hoped by those living there taking up work if they can. They will be supported in taking up work, but if they are unable to find work, they will be supported with a social welfare payment and a payment modelled on child benefit which will support that independent living.

A number of Deputies, including Deputies Bríd Smith and Sherlock, raised the issue of people living in direct provision who are working on the front line in our health services. I recognise that there are hundreds of people living in direct provision who are acting in our health or social care services. The HSE set up a system to accommodate them so they would not be in the congregated setting of direct provision. About 1,500 places have been provided throughout the country. In a number of situations that have recently come to note, those placements have ended. I am engaging with the HSE on what exactly happened there. There were a small number of situations where people's HSE housing placement ended and their original direct provision centre had closed in the interim. I know in one of those situations it was a centre we all welcomed the closure of, but in that situation the residents were reaccommodated somewhere far from their work. We will continue to work to engage better with the HSE where HSE-provided accommodation is ending so that we can ensure the disjointed actions that happened in the situations that have been brought to the attention of the media recently do not happen again.

A large number of issues have been raised and I will not be able to respond to them all. I note that Deputies Funchion and Ó Cathasaigh focused on the importance of children within the White Paper. That is essential in terms of the supports we will provide in the reception and integration centres, involving Tusla providing childcare and involving the child protection and safeguarding inspections, CPSIs, in each area supporting the immediate integration of children and young people and making sure they have schools in the area. The availability of schooling for both primary and secondary level will be taken into account in determining the location of the reception and integration centres.

Deputy Sherlock spoke about his party's citizenship Bill. I know the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, engaged extensively with Senator Bacik on that. Deputy Sherlock also spoke about the regularisation process for undocumented workers. This week, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, provided Cabinet with an update on those approximately 17,000 people who are undocumented in the country, including 3,000 children. That was a commitment in the programme for Government and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is working on that. In September the full scheme will be provided for and that will be within the 18-month timeframe we set out in the programme for Government. I know Deputy Naughten spoke about that as well.

Deputy Pringle talked about the issue of independent inspections and I know Deputy Murnane O'Connor spoke about that as well. We will be getting HIQA to undertake independent inspections. The inspections are currently undertaken by a private company and by IPAS. That does not give the level of independence we need. We are in detailed negotiations with HIQA on a memorandum of understanding. I hope in the coming months we will see HIQA take up that important role, but I will continue to update the Dáil because I know it is an issue of major concern.

I know Deputy Murnane O'Connor wanted to talk about the level of funding available. Some €225 million was provided for the existing IPAS services and that was an increase of €45 million over the previous year, so it is a significant investment. We all know the system we seek to create through the White Paper will be one where the investment gives us a long-term return in having actual accommodation rather than the over-reliance on the private sector we currently have.

Deputies Connolly and O'Reilly spoke about the vulnerability assessment. We have had an obligation, which as a country we have not met for many years, to implement vulnerability assessments. We are now implementing a vulnerability assessment on all applicants who arrive in this country. It was a pilot because it was the first time we were doing it and we needed to learn because it is a new process. Let us be clear that everybody is getting a vulnerability assessment as they arrive. There have been more than 268 done already and we will learn from the pilot and implement those lessons when it is fully applied. That is an important element and it is hoped it will help to avoid the situations Deputy O'Reilly outlined of people being allocated entirely inappropriate accommodation.

A number of Deputies spoke about what we can do now, including Deputies Cairns, Bríd Smith, McGuinness and Pádraig O'Sullivan. I will reiterate some of the points I made earlier. We are dealing with the issue of period poverty. I have made a direction to all direct provision centres to ensure period products are provided free of charge to all residents.

We are dealing with the issue of bank accounts with the Department of Justice, and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has engaged significantly with the major banks. Last year, there was a big announcement from Bank of Ireland and I understand continuous engagement is taking place with other banks.

We are dealing with the issue of the driver licence. There is provision in the traffic (miscellaneous provisions) Bill that will come before the Oireachtas soon, which will deal with the issue that prevents people in the direct provision process being able to apply for a driver licence. Of course, there are also the significant announcements I made with the Minister, Deputy Harris, on access to higher and further education.

Looking forward, we are aware we need to move people out of emergency accommodation because at present there is a significant number of emergency accommodation centres. Many have been provided to try to get us through Covid and provide for the decongregation of existing direct provision centres. The focus in the next year will be to provide accommodation so we can move people out of existing emergency accommodation centres. There will be a particular focus on single men who far too often are accommodated in crowded situations, which are entirely inappropriate.

I am very conscious of the speed of the decision making. It is an issue on which I am working very closely with the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. The decision-making process remains a matter for the Department of Justice. Significant investment in finance, a new IT system and personnel have been put in place. We will continue to work to shorten the period within which someone's application is adjudicated.

I would have loved an opportunity to address more questions but I have no doubt we will continue to debate this matter in the months ahead.

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