Results 3,681-3,700 of 4,787 for speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Equality Legislation (2 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: As previously announced the Government has decided in principle to amend the Equal Status Acts to prohibit discrimination in relation to residential tenants, or prospective tenants, on the basis that they receive assistance with their rent through rent supplement or social welfare payments. The necessary legislative amendments are being prepared by my Department in consultation with the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: UN Conventions (2 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The Government has given a firm commitment to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and intends to proceed to ratification as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to ensure all necessary legislative and administrative requirements under the Convention are met. As the Deputy is aware, Ireland has a dualist legal system and therefore does not become...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Chairman and members for inviting me to speak today on the direct provision system for accommodating applicants for international protection. I have been to the forefront in seeking reform of this system and, to that end, I very much welcome the committee's interest in this matter. It is my wish that this engagement today helps, not hinders, the ongoing consultative process which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I have visited a number of centres. They vary in their standards. Some are excellent. Some are much less so. I could envisage staying in some, but there are some in which I would not spend a night. No matter what the standard of accommodation is, those who are seeking asylum do not want to live in direct provision centres. I cannot stand over a system in which the issues that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: That is the reason the issue is being discussed by the working group. It is also the reason that the group comprises people from the Children's Rights Alliance who have child protection expertise. I am sure that they are making their opinions robustly known and that the recommendations will be at the forefront of the report whenever it arrives on my desk.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Is the Senator asking whether the directive will form part of the protection Bill?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The Senator is right, in that the IRP Bill was wide, large legislation and had been going around the Houses for a number of years. It made sense for the Minister to remove from that Bill the protection Bill, the general scheme of which has only just been published. The intention is for the latter to undergo the pre-legislative stage before a committee. It is within that process that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The IRC and Ms Conlan can speak for themselves.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I can only speak from my perception of how the group is working. As I have outlined in my statement, I firmly believe that, if one wants to get solutions, the best place to be is in a room with people who are determined to find them. I am committed to finding a way forward and want to turn the page on the current system. Many people in the Houses of the Oireachtas have raised deep...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I shall ask Mr. Noel Dowling to relay the factual position, from the Department's point of view, and shall give my own personal perspective afterwards.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I agree with Senator Ó Clochartaigh that, if one is a victim of rape, sexual violence or torture, one needs to have care that is better than can be provided by somebody who is running a dry cleaning company.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I will give my initial response to that. I do not know if Mr. Dowling or Mr. Kelly want to come in on that. On the people who are still in direct provision when they do not have to be there, I think there is a challenge for us in the future to find a step-down facility or a halfway situation because I think it would be unreasonable to expect somebody to go from a long period of living in a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The other issue is that if one has been in a centre for a number of years, if one's children attend the local school, if there is some kind of community linkage, or if one is doing some voluntary work in the community, then one probably wants to stay close to that general community in the short term. That can also be a factor in people staying in the centre beyond the period when they have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: There has been a level of heightened expectation because the work of the working group has been ongoing and there have been a number of visits to different centres. Members are aware of the centres and I have also been visiting centres. There will be a report to Government and the Government will decide to publish or not. It is my expectation that it will be published and it should be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Is the Deputy referring to the average stay?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I remember travelling to Genoa in 2001. I remember the people I travelled over with and I remember not travelling back with them. I involved myself in a few protests and then joined Oxfam in not protesting on the second day because of the type of activity some people were engaging in at the time. I remember getting tear gas for my troubles but that is a trip down memory lane.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: On the working group, people are in politics if they want to achieve things. If they believe something is wrong and must be remedied, fixed or reformed, the job is to find some way to do it. People in the working group have been working incredibly hard and have been campaigning on the issue for quite some time, as have politicians in the House. I give credit to some sections of the media....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The Deputy asked two straight questions. The Irish Refugee Council can speak for itself, but the best place to be is making these points within the working group. That is my answer to the Deputy's first question. Second, I want this working group to succeed. From its very beginning most people were willing to give the group a fair wind. A minority were willing it to fail and tried to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I shall respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett and you, Chairman. I have two brief points. First, the assumption that some things are off limits to the working group is incorrect. There are no limits to what can be discussed by it. The right to work is being openly discussed. I believe we are practically the only country in the European Union to have a limitation on allowing refugee applicants...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (1 Apr 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Again, the Deputy is pre-empting the report.