Results 21-40 of 101 for "direct provision" speaker:Bríd Smith

Direct Provision: Statements (22 Apr 2021)

Bríd Smith: I support what the previous speaker said about the direct provision system. However, in the limited time I have I wish to go a little off message. It is absolutely true that racism and far-right politics can gain from playing on the scarcity of housing in this country. In my area, leaflets are already being distributed, which state that we must look after and house our own first. It...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...when we did not increase capacity to the levels required and reopened the economy too wide and too early. As Deputy Kenny said, we never imposed restrictions and checks on workplaces such as meat factories and direct provision centres where the clusters broke out. I am afraid history will repeat itself time and again unless the Government wakes up. It is dividing the community, not...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Bríd Smith: The programme for Government commits to ending the direct provision system and replacing it with a new international protection accommodation system based on a not-for-profit approach. Currently, in the Skellig Star accommodation centre in Cahersiveen, 32 people are facing their third day without food. They have gone on hunger strike, which is a drastic decision to take, to force the issue...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Direct Provision System (14 Jul 2020)

Bríd Smith: 907. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps she will take to abolish the direct provision system; and her plans to replace same. [14776/20]

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (Resumed) (9 Jul 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...the very bedrock on which racism stands and breathes. I ask the Minister to reconsider the suitability of this representative for the committee. We were promised in the recent discussions about direct provision and in the outcome of the Government formation discussions that we would see a move away from the for-profit system of direct provision. Why are we including a representative...

Covid-19 (Justice and Equality): Statements (4 Jun 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...to cover them for the period of Covid-19 because, for many and various reasons, they cannot return to work. I call on the Minister to address this. I also want to raise the question of the Miltown Malbay direct provision centre. I know the Minister and the International Protection Accommodation Service have received many letters from local citizens who have been providing blankets,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (27 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: 1009. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for stopping the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment to residents in direct provision centres who lost their jobs as a result of the crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8123/20]

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: All members have been sent the submission from the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland that contains many photographs of the interiors of direct provision centres. As soon as I saw how cramped and crowded and on top of each other people were, it reminded me of playing house as a kid, with bricks and stones and lumps of planks, and of pushing everything together so we could all lie down...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: That is fine. The point I want to make is that if it is not their job to query that advice, it is their job to look after the occupants of direct provision. I am of the view that those two things are contradictory. The Minister recently stated on radio that they are in his care and if anyone works for the Minister, surely their care should matter to those who look after them. On 12...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...that these centres are totally inadequate for the purposes of self-isolation and social distancing, particularly during this crisis. If anything, it has exposed the horrors and inhumanity of direct provision in a sharp way. Who is the author of that letter to the residents?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: The evidence shows everybody should be moved out of that direct provision centre and alternatives provided. That would be the solution to this horrendous mess and the inhumane conditions these people are being forced to live under, and God knows for how long more. None of us knows when this pandemic is going to subside or become a thing of history.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, nor that of the Minister, Deputy Harris. Perhaps it is their own fault, as was suggested in respect of another cohort of unfortunates who were infected in clusters in direct provision. Perhaps it is their own fault because they were in unsafe work practices. I want the Minister to tell us today whether his primary concern is for the health of the...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...? I ask the Minister to extend maternity leave and benefit for the duration of the crisis in the same way the Government is extending the courtesy to other areas of society. My final question is on direct provision. Will the Minister explain in detail, if she can, why the pandemic unemployment payment was denied to workers living in direct provision who lost their jobs in this...

Covid-19 (Children and Youth Affairs): Statements (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...privatised system growing in response to the needs of working people. As with many issues, this failure stems from a wider failure of this State to provide for universal care. We have seen it in nursing homes, our hospital system and direct provision, where we contract and subcontract the care and needs of key public services. We can thank consecutive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil-led...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Direct Provision System (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: 438. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number and causes of deaths in direct provision and emergency accommodation centres in 2019 and to date in 2020, in line with the recommendations of the 2020 report by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. [5896/20]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Direct Provision System (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: 440. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of positive Covid-19 cases and clusters in direct provision centres; and the number of these occurring in new centres opened specifically as a response to the Covid-19 crisis. [5971/20]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Direct Provision System (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: 441. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the safeguards and oversights in place to protect direct provision residents who are forced to self-isolate; and if dietary and other needs at a centre (details supplied) have been deemed as suitable for residents self-isolating. [5972/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Tests (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: 712. To ask the Minister for Health if positive cases of Covid-19 were identified in a facility (details supplied) among residents in the direct provision system by the HSE; and if so, the date on which these were confirmed or suspected as Covid-19 cases. [5966/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (20 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: 714. To ask the Minister for Health the interventions made by the HSE and the HPSC in direct provision centres, specifically on-site visits or inspections of these sites by public health teams and staff. [5968/20]

Covid-19 (Justice and Equality): Statements (13 May 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...and I will make a statement within which there will be a few questions the answers to which I am happy to take in writing. We have been raising the question of the treatment of residents in direct provision for a month now and I want to repeat that I believe this Government has failed miserably to protect the rights of our most vulnerable during this Covid-19 crisis. I believe that...