Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire. Táim buíoch dó as ucht fanacht anseo don díospóireacht seo ar an Athló. I am again raising the issue of direct provision. I have raised it before on numerous occasions from different perspectives. It would be good at this stage to get an update from the Minister for Justice and Equality on the 53 direct provision centres around the country. I know that the Minister has made headway in dealing with the number of people waiting for their asylum applications to be processed and that is to be welcomed.

In recent times, the Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, has been quite scathing of the system. People such as Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness have also spoken out about it. A number of Senators, including myself and Senator van Turnhout, have raised serious concerns that if the direct provision system is not addressed, a future Taoiseach will have to make a similar apology to the one the Taoiseach had to make about the Magdalen laundries.

The question I ask is quite straightforward and is a statistical one seeking the numbers in the system currently and a breakdown of the number of males, females and children. We have particular concerns about the number of children in the system. I also seek a breakdown of how many years these people have been in the system up to one year, one to two years, two to three years, three to four years and so on. I look forward to the Minister's reply and thank him for being here for the Adjournment debate.