Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is welcome that direct provision will cease three years from now and people will be accommodated, helped and aided in different ways. However, there is a real concern within both the local direct provision centre and the wider community that enough might not be done to support those seeking international protection between now and then.

Perfect cognisance is not always taken of the situations that those seeking direct provision accommodation face in their home countries. I know of one man who, for several years, slept in the dugout of our local GAA pitch because he feared sleeping in accommodation by night beside individuals with whom he would have been fighting and in conflict in his homeland. We need to have more cognisance of where these people are coming from when we accommodate them. We need to look beyond 2024 and consider what we will do with direct provision centres and the land on which they sit. Meelick GAA club, Parkville Football Club, Ballynanty soccer club, Thomond Rugby Football Club and Limerick IT are all on our doorstep in Meelick. It would be a good gesture of the State to give a little back, in the form of sporting provision, to a community that has supported people seeking international protection for almost 70 years.

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