Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said yesterday that people granted refugee status who are still living in direct provision accommodation should have to pay rent. I am sure the Taoiseach has visited direct provision centres and I am sure he will agree that we are not talking about luxury penthouse suites, detached houses, nice apartments or anything like that. We are talking about cramped and shared rooms with limited and often horrifying food supplies. These are very difficult living conditions for people. Around 40 people have been living for over ten weeks in a tent in Tralee, with the wind shaking the tent around them as they try to sleep. There is a total of around 300 people in direct provision living in tents as we speak. We regularly hear the horror stories of direct provision centres run by large corporations like Aramark that squeeze all the profit they can out of people seeking asylum. It seems utterly monstrous that the Government would try to imitate those companies and squeeze people who have nowhere left to turn during this cost-of-living and housing crisis by threatening them with homelessness if they do not cough up the money. I ask the Taoiseach to pledge that nobody in direct provision or any emergency homeless accommodation should have to pay to live in such deplorable conditions.

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