Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The most important people in this debate are the people who find themselves in direct provision. People have exited direct provision and played a huge part at community and national level, having worked and raised families here. They are a great addition to their communities. There is a cohort of over 7,000 people still in direct provision, some of them for many years and in pretty bad situations in terms of accommodation. In terms of a request, they want the processing system to be reviewed. It is not acceptable that human beings, sometimes whole families, are locked up in hotel rooms for years. People will look back and ask how those people were treated so badly because of where they came from or because of the colour of their skin. The Minister understands the need to phase out direct provision. In the meantime, how can we challenge the processing system such that people can leave direct provision and be able to give something back to Ireland? That is all they want to do.

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