Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, for coming to the Chamber this evening to deal with this Topical Issue matter. We might have a difference of opinion at times but the Minister of State engages quite a lot. We also had a scenario with the centre in Ballaghadereen some time back.

This Topical Issue matter concerns a centre, which I accept is a direct provision centre, on the Leitrim side. It is not in the Roscommon-Galway constituency. Deputy Fitzmaurice and I represent the Roosky area and much of the village is in County Roscommon. I am not here with any flowery presentation for the Minister of State nor to make a glossy speech. I am here to talk facts. I acknowledge we need to accept the agreements Ireland into which has entered to take in asylum seekers and to make their lives an bit better, and I fully pledge my support in that regard. However, the method by which it is being done in many parts of the State is causing grave concern. People should not be locked away in direct provision centres for seven, eight or ten years as I heard one lady say last night on the television.

Whether one is on the Leitrim or Roscommon side of Roosky, and Deputy Fitzmaurice will be aware of this, it is the veil of secrecy that surrounded this news that is really annoying the local community. This community is rebuilding its village. This community has many foreign nationals living in it who are treated like everyone else in the village. It is unacceptable to me and the other public representatives in the area to suggest bringing in 80 plus people to live in a hotel there, increasing the population by at least 15% where there is not the proper infrastructure, where there are not the jobs and where there is not the public transport.

We have to change the way we deal with direct provision. The way it is being dealt with is not good enough. I am sure the Government also recognises that there will have to be improvements in the way the matter is dealt with. We need to have more consultation with local people. It is really annoying to think that there was such a lack of consultation with the local community in this case. Were the teachers in the school spoken to? Were the local doctors spoken to? Was there any talk about reopening the health centre that was closed in the last 12 or 18 months? No, there was not. That is not good enough.

I consider the communities I represent in Roosky and other places in the Roscommon-Galway constituency as mature communities and I am sure the representatives on the Sligo-Leitrim side also feel the same. These people would like to be told what might be happening in their community. I consider them to be intelligent people who certainly would not turn a blind eye to people in need. The manner in which Government is dealing with this is unacceptable.

I accept the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is a decent individual who always picks up the phone to people when they make representations on issues. Why were the people of Roosky not informed of this? Why was there no consultation? Why was there no engagement with the schools or the doctors? I asked for a meeting last week for the public representatives from Roscommon-Galway and Sligo-Leitrim, which was granted, but it now seems to have gone off the agenda. Why were the people in the community not met, as they requested? I will give the Minister of State an opportunity to answer those questions.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Eugene Murphy for raising this important topic. I also acknowledge his interest and support in Ballaghadereen previously and his sincerity in this regard. It is important to set out for the record and for public awareness the chain of events that led to this development. In January and again in September of this year, the Reception and Integration Agency of my Department published a call in the national press for expressions of interest for premises to meet the increasing demand for accommodation for persons in the protection process, known as asylum seekers. This call sought expressions of interest from parties who may be interested in providing accommodation and related services on an urgent and emergency basis. This was issued in response to the urgent and unforeseen demand for accommodation and related services from those persons arriving in the State seeking international protection.

The criteria against which the Department assessed the offers of accommodation were availability, standard of property, ability to provide communal social spaces for residents, ability to cater at mealtimes and proximity to various other services.

It should be noted that these premises were offered to the Department by individual contractors across the country. The Department did not randomly choose any one location over another location. The owners of the properties came forward and offered them.

Following on-site assessments carried out by staff of the Department, the Shannon Key West Hotel in Roosky, County Leitrim, was deemed to be a suitable premises for the needs of the Department. The premises will be available following refurbishment, is capable of providing meals to residents, has scope to provide the required communal social areas required by residents and is located close to other services. My Department has engaged with the chief executive officer of Leitrim County Council and has provided the elected members of the council with information regarding the opening of the new accommodation centre.

As with every other accommodation centre in the country, my Department works closely with the HSE, the Departments of Education and Skills and Employment Affairs and Social Protection and all other relevant Departments and agencies to co-ordinate the delivery of State services to residents.

The Shannon Key West Hotel will provide accommodation and ancillary services for approximately 80 asylum seekers for one year, pending compliance with all regulatory requirements. The indicative timeline for the opening of the centre is within the next six weeks. I understand there are other legal issues involved at the moment; that is one of the reasons our meeting did not go ahead at this time. As I have indicated, this centre is opening on an emergency and time-limited basis. To meet the accommodation needs in the longer term, the Department has recently commenced a public procurement exercise under which public tenders for the provision of accommodation and ancillary services by way of the independent living model, to persons in the protection process, will be advertised. This process is scheduled to continue throughout 2019 and is scheduled for completion in 2020. This will be delivered via a series of regional competitions to cover the entire State.

As soon as it was known that an agreement was possible, people were notified straightaway. Prior to that, it could be that an agreement would not be possible. As soon as it was known, people were notified. I also wish to stress again that this is on an emergency and time-limited basis. The alternative is for people to be on the streets. We are also working hard using the McMahon report and others to improve and upgrade the standard of accommodation throughout the country; 98% of the recommendations in the McMahon report have been fulfilled. The Ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Children also can visit all these centres to take complaints. We are in the process at the moment in co-operation with the NGOs of putting together a series of standards to upgrade things even further. As well as that, we have decreased the amount of time people are staying in these centres quite a bit. People are offered accommodation; they are not locked away. They can come and go as they wish. It is not as described by the Deputy.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The term "locked away" might not be appropriate but if I was an asylum seeker waiting ten years for my case to be adjudicated on and I was confined to a small area in a hotel, I would certainly call it being locked away. The Minister of State knows if all our families were put together in a small space, how long we would stay sane in it. That is one part of the argument.

He has answered the second part. He has spoken about communications with the Department of Education and Skills and other Departments. My information comes from speaking to the medical and educational people. There certainly was no communication with the people. There was no communication with the community. What is wrong with the Government that it cannot come and talk to people? Does it think people are foolish? They are human beings. I have a significant issue with direct provision. I have said it before and will say again that it is legalised people trafficking.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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It is not. That is terrible.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot understand, when the Department was offered the Shannon Key West Hotel in Roosky, how the officials did not know about the legal situation or why they would push this on a village that does not have the infrastructure or the facilities. Nothing has been delivered in that village over many years. I ask the Minister of State again to say when Mr. Banks will meet Oireachtas Members from Roscommon-Galway and Sligo-Leitrim. When are the community leaders going to be invited to a meeting with him as was promised? I was promised both of those meetings. I know the Minister of State is a sincere man and that he delivers. I want those questions answered this evening and I want proper engagement with the community. I do not want this veil of secrecy around such announcements. It is not the way to go. I totally reject the way direct provision is being handled. Initially when it was brought in, the intention was to move people on within three to six months. That has gone out the window at this stage. Maybe the Minister of State can give me some answers.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I will do the best I can. A lot of people criticise direct provision, but we have made significant improvements in the system over the past number of years and continue to do so. That has to be acknowledged. We have shortened the time people live in the centres and we move them on as quickly as we can. Either they are told their application has not succeeded and they must leave, or they are told they can stay and we try to get accommodation for them. Some 60,000 people have benefitted from that over recent years. People can come and go as they wish. I have outlined the services that are available. I have yet to see a better alternative. If the Deputy has one, he might tell me what it is. I would be delighted to sit down with him for as long as it takes to learn about it.

To meet our obligations as set out in the EU directive, which lays down standards for the reception of persons seeking international protection, and which was transposed into Irish law as the European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018, the State must have available sufficient accommodation to meet the demands of persons in the protection process. Due to significant demand, my Department has sought to identify additional accommodation by publishing expressions of interest in the national press, as the current accommodation portfolio will not meet the demand. In response to that expression of interest, the premises in Roosky and elsewhere were offered to the Department by the owner. As with all our accommodation centres, whether located in rural or urban areas, my Department will work closely with all relevant State agencies such as the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills to make sure the residents get what they need. All contractors are obliged to meet the reasonable transport needs of residents and so on. The contractor in each centre is also required to set up a friends of the centre group. There are 37 such centres around the country and they are all working well. I am sure Roosky will be no different. The friends of the centre groups were recommended by the McMahon report to facilitate linkages between the residents and the local community and to encourage integration and inclusion. My Department worked closely with this group to achieve these aims. That is happening all over the country and is going very well.

With respect to the other questions the Deputy asked, there is no difficulty whatsoever meeting Oireachtas Members. As he will be aware, there is a question mark over this centre at the moment and until that is resolved, it would be better for us to hold on and see what will happen. As soon as that is resolved, I have no difficulty meeting the Deputy and his colleagues at any time and place to answer any questions they may have.