Results 3,981-4,000 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Has the Secretary General explored what that other system outside direct provision might be?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: What efforts has the Department made to map out alternative provision models?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Has the Minister asked the Secretary General to do so?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Has the Minister asked the officials in the Department to look at the alternative models to direct provision?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The officials have not been asked to do that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is strange because it is certainly something that Government backbenchers assume is on the agenda for change. I am really disappointed to hear that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I hear the point about the legislation and I understand that the legislation if it is more efficient will reduce the numbers in direct provision. I have heard that but I am asking a different question.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: There will always be people in the system. My question is whether the State envisages a new system other than direct provision for providing for these people while their applications are in process. The Secretary General is telling me that he has not been asked to look at that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: What is the Secretary General's understanding of the programme for Government commitments around direct provision?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: So the Secretary General does not understand there is a Government commitment to the ending of direct provision as the system operated by the State?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I have not disputed that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Can I make a suggestion? The commitment in the programme for Government is very clear. The new legislation is absolutely necessary and required and, I hope, will be fit for purpose. All things being equal, that should reduce the waiting time for applicants, all of which would be tremendously welcome. That point has been well made. Given that the commitment is to move away from direct...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Has the Department done the costings on that? Does it have the figures on what that would cost?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I appreciate that. Obviously, the objective of the legislation is to ensure that the current long and torturous procedure for applicants is shortened, mitigated and made more transparent, fair and timely. However, I am concerned that if the settled position is to move away from direct provision, it would be a matter of good planning that the Department, under the direction of the Secretary...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: So, the Secretary General is satisfied that is the case. Has the Minister discussed this with the Secretary General?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The second issue I wish to raise relates to separated children who have gone missing while in State care. Barnardos' figures reflect that 513 separated children -----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I have the 2011 figures from Barnardos indicating that of the 513 children who have gone missing while in State care, the whereabouts of 440 of them remain unknown. Would Mr. Purcell like to comment on that? Are those figures correct? This issue obviously relates to the asylum process.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: How many separated children have gone missing? How is it that according to Barnardos' 2011 figures some 440 of them are unaccounted for? Where are those children?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, but while the Secretary General is here, will he give me some response on this issue? This issue has been in the public domain, albeit intermittently. If that number of minors from other categories of society were on the missing list, I cannot imagine Mr. Purcell having to forage through papers to find information for detail on them.