Results 1-20 of 28 for "direct provision" speaker:Frances Black

Seanad: Housing for All: Statements (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Frances Black: ...exhausted and increasingly embittered. It all feels out of touch and distant from the human tragedy of this crisis. We have to look at it and ask if the people languishing in homeless shelters or direct provision centres are tuning into this debate today.What about the children growing up in hotel rooms or the students commuting three hours each way to college because they cannot find or...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Young Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Oct 2022)

Frances Black: ...is so beautiful to hear them speak one of the most beautiful languages in the world and I agree with everything that they said. Kim is amazing and I totally agree with everything that she said. Direct provision is a deeply shameful aspect of Ireland's treatment of asylum seekers. In years to come we will view it in the same way we now view mother and baby homes. I was a member of...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Public Expenditure and Reform): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Frances Black: ...issues affect us all but not equally. We are making several steps forward in this area but we must ensure the groups in our society who experience the most acute suffering, including asylum seekers in direct provision, people in prisons and Travellers, get the mental healthcare they need. Senator Flynn will speak about Travellers in a few minutes. People who are on the margins of...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Frances Black: ...This is what made outrageous the National Gallery of Ireland's decision to award the contract for its café to the multinational catering conglomerate, Aramark, which is involved in running several direct provision centres in the country.I do not need to list the many outrageous elements of the direct provision system to the Chamber. I know that the Government has expressed a desire...

Seanad: Humanitarian Support for Ukrainian Refugees: Statements (23 Mar 2022)

Frances Black: ...generates a moral reckoning with how we have treated people coming to Ireland who are fleeing violence and conflict. So many people have been subject to the awful conditions and endless waiting of direct provision. Many have had their applications for protection turned down on flimsy pretences necessitating drawn-out, emotionally taxing legal battles. Asylum seekers have had to fight...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Frances Black: ...I mean disabled persons in inpatient and residential settings, people living with limited or no GP provision, Travellers, migrants, those without PPS numbers, international students and those in direct provision? I would appreciate it if the Minister could respond to those questions.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Feb 2021)

Frances Black: I am delighted to see Senator Norris in the Chamber and back to full health. I also welcome the White Paper on ending direct provision. I visited some direct provision centres in my role as member of the justice and equality committee in the last Oireachtas. What I saw was horrendous and shocking. I have no doubt the residents are celebrating today. Hopefully, it will happen for them...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Nov 2020)

Frances Black: I wish to highlight today the Government’s White Paper on ending direct provision, which is scheduled to be published before the end of 2020. It is essential that we put pressure on the legislators to use the key recommendations of the groundbreaking report by Catherine Day. We must see an end to direct provision, an end to institutionalised living and an end to congregated...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision: Discussion with Ombudsman (25 Sep 2019)

Frances Black: When we visited direct provision centres, I found that mental health was one of the biggest issues for clients. Can the witnesses talk us through how a standard interaction between their offices and a centre works? Perhaps they could pick one centre and tell us how often the Ombudsman is there, how many staff attend, how the meetings are carried out. I just want to get a clear...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Frances Black: ..., I looked through some of the materials on the contracts and I was quite shocked. I would like to get the Department's perspective on it. For example, Bridgestock is a company that runs two direct provision centres - Globe House in Sligo town and The Old Convent in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo. The State pays Bridgestock about €6 million per year to run the centres. Since 2000,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2019)

Frances Black: ...and the long-term impact on their mental health? I again highlight the case of Sylva Tukula, which was absolutely horrifying. It was devastating to hear what happened. She died in direct provision and, as was mentioned, she was buried with no friends or loved ones present. That is heartbreaking and the fact she was buried alone sums up the cruelty of the system and the indignity to...

Seanad: Mental Health Services: Motion (29 May 2019)

Frances Black: ...issue. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. I would love the Minister of State to read the presentations that I listened to this morning. The committee is reviewing the direct provision system. We were joined this morning by a group of incredibly brave asylum seekers. I was very emotional listening to their stories. They explained to us what it was like to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (29 May 2019)

Frances Black: ...them humanely should shame all of you. I feel absolutely devastated by what I have heard. I am ashamed that I live in this country. I am ashamed by the way our Government is treating people in direct provision. There is no representation here today from our Government. It is probably too hard from them to hear what the reality is. We do not know. I am grateful that the witnesses...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (29 May 2019)

Frances Black: I want to thank the witnesses all so much. I hope they never give up the fight to abolish direct provision centres. We will do everything and by the way we have a great Chairman to whom I want to pay credit. We will do our best to highlight the issues that the witnesses have given us information on. I appreciate their honesty. It has been an unbelievable eye-opener for me and I thought I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Frances Black: ...over the past five years but I still find it very depressing, very sad and heartbreaking. The first question I will ask Mr. Justice McMahon is about the right to work. This has been highlighted by direct provision residents and campaigners for decades and by the working group in 2015. We saw the Supreme Court decision in 2017, which I strongly welcomed and which effectively forced the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Frances Black: ...outsourcing that function to private companies? What is the witnesses' view on the likelihood of legal action against the State? The special rapporteur on child protection has described the system of direct provision as State-sanctioned child poverty. Asylum seekers have talked about the misery endured by them in the centres and how their humanity was slowly taken away and their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Síochána Oversight and Accountability: Minister for Justice and Equality (13 Jun 2018)

Frances Black: ...six months? I will ask all my questions together, a Chathaoirligh, if that is okay. The directive contains provisions on ensuring respect and dignity for asylum seekers. Will this affect how direct provision is run? Is the Minister satisfied, for example, that €21 a week is enough money to ensure dignity, even though it makes it almost impossible to pay for clothes, books,...

Seanad: Reception Conditions Directive: Motion (23 Jan 2018)

Frances Black: ...challenge against the State can be expected. On the basis of the interim scheme, the brave Burmese man who actually persisted and brought the case to the Supreme Court would not be able to accept the position of chef at the direct provision centre in which he is living. We urgently require further concrete details on how the right to work will operate once the EU reception conditions...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Directives: Minister for Justice and Equality (17 Jan 2018)

Frances Black: ...states provide for a right to work after six months or less. I ask the Minister to consider in particular the huge mental health benefits of being able to work, in particular where a person is in direct provision.

Seanad: JobPath: Motion (15 Nov 2017)

Frances Black: ...such as JobPath. We need to make sure these cases are not forgotten. That we are contracting out these schemes to private companies raises a serious risk of abuse. This is as true for JobPath as it is for direct provision centres and all of the other vital support services that are under the authority of the State but run by companies with a clear profit motive. I totally support the...