Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I appreciate the Minister of State may not be able to answer this question, I have a huge difficulty in differentiating between "in the care of the State" and "cared for by the State". These children are being directly cared for by the State. If one visits any of these direct provision centres, children are not necessarily in a normal family context and there may be two or three families in one room. I have a difficulty with this and I will continue to pursue this question. I feel the response is a fudge.

On the question I asked about standards, are we basically saying the HIQA standards do not apply and that no child protection standards apply? Must we wait for requests from the very people whose applications are being decided on by the Department of Justice and Equality and who do not want to upset that Department? It would be the equivalent of asking Irish families who are receiving social welfare payments to get the Department of Social Protection to investigate itself. These matters are separate for a reason. It should be independent. We should have learned from the past.