Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senators van Turnhout and Mac Conghail and their colleagues on tabling this important motion. I welcome the Minister to the House. Everybody wants a better system than what is in existence. Unfortunately, Ireland was probably caught with its eyes closed to this problem in the mid-1990s when asylum seekers travelled here for a better life and to escape torture and so on. The direct provision system that was put in place was the wrong answer to the problem but given many people were migrating here back then and Ireland was not prepared and did not have a structure, this was deemed to be the correct structure. However, the tales I have heard from people in direct provision centres and about such centres and the reports I have read in the media indicate otherwise.

I, along with Senator Ó Clochartaigh and others, visited two centres in Galway last week. One is the Great Western House off Eyre Square where we met management and officials from the Department and the RIA, all of whom were courteous, and residents. We also attended the Eglinton Hotel centre in Salthill where we met management and residents. There were a number of common themes and I noted a number of issues. The first was interesting in that everybody had the same story. The time they have spent in these centres is unacceptable. When one hears the harrowing stories of the people in these centres for more than ten years, it is inhumane, inappropriate and wrong and it does not do the great society we have any justice whatsoever. I heard stories of women giving birth to children who have not seen the outside of these centres at all. Luckily, some of them did the leaving certificate and benefited from our education system but they were unable to go on to college because there is no facility to enable them financially or otherwise. They cannot find the money anywhere because they are not allowed to work.

I refer to a contrasting issue between the two centres when we met the residents. In the Great Western House centre, we met the residents on their own and they were more amenable to telling us their stories. We heard about the conditions they have experienced and it was traumatic to say the least but when we visited the Eglinton Hotel centre, the manager decided to sit in on the discussion we had with the residents for whatever reason and the stories were muted. I am sure Senator Ó Clochartaigh will agree about this. There was no criticism of the facility or the food and the residents concentrated on the time they had been there. They were articulate people who were well able to make their case but, unfortunately, they were muted because the manager decided to sit in on our meeting with them. Senator Ó Clochartaigh and I, as guests of the Irish Refugee Council, visited a facility in Portugal, which is not without its flaws, but it is far superior to what we have here. Residents have an opportunity to engage and get to know Portuguese culture, benefit from the education system, integrate and build relationships in the communities in which they live.

We asked about the longest time a person has had to wait to be "released". My use of the word is considered. We were told 18 months would be considered desperate and totally inappropriate but it has been more than a decade here. The Portuguese example is one from which we could learn a lot, but it could be improved upon. As a country we should not need to look at international best practice; we should be able to set it.

The bottom line is that going back as far as the Famine our people have emigrated. They have had mixed experiences. They have been treated very well in some countries to which they went but they have also been treated appallingly in other countries. That can still happen. This country should lead the way in that regard. We should show that we will give back what our citizens have got elsewhere when travelling abroad.

I wish to reflect some comments that were made by the residents to whom we spoke. They said that if they were given a prison sentence, at least they would know they would be released by a certain date but at the moment they do not know. We have a moral and ethical responsibility to prioritise the issue. I acknowledge that these people have no votes, and perhaps that is why there has not been the political will to deal with the issue for the past decade. That does not make it right. They are citizens and human beings. We signed up to the UN Convention on Human Rights. We have a responsibility to do the right thing. This has been a useful and worthwhile debate. I look forward to the response of the Minister, whom I know is committed in this area. We have two and a half years left in government and we must deal with the issue so that the next Government, whoever that will be, will inherit a better system than we did.