Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I thank the Minister for his reply. I have read the value for money report but it does not say much about the human element, which is sadly lacking in the direct provision system.

The Minister of State stated that residents receive a weekly direct provision allowance of ¤19.10 per adults. I have a receipt from one of the asylum seekers of his payment from the Department of Social Protection which states that his weekly flat payment is ¤186 and ¤166.90 of that is deducted, so he receives ¤19.10. Where does the ¤166.90 from the Department of Social Protection go? Who deducts it and where is it going? That is a significant amount of money. I am not sure if the Minister of State has information on it. Will he request the Minister to revert to me on that question. It would appear that we are paying more than ¤19.10 per individual and that we are paying ¤186. When I asked a number of people who deal with asylum seekers, and I showed some NGOs this slip, it was the first time they had seen one of them and they were as puzzled as I was as to where the money might have gone.