Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has concerns regarding the Senator's proposal that all Members of the Oireachtas would have unrestricted access to any one of the 34 asylum accommodation centres under contract to the Reception and Integration Agency.

The Minister is conscious of the need to balance the right sought in this Adjournment motion with the rights of residents and the need for proper management of the centres. He is concerned that unrestricted access might not be appropriate for a number of reasons, not least the rights of asylum seekers resident in these centres to their privacy and the obligations placed on the service providers. The centres are privately run, operating under contract to RIA. Those contracts provide for unannounced visits in circumstances where these are both necessary and appropriate. An example of such a circumstance would be where access to the centre is needed by RIA officials and by private independent inspectors under contract to RIA for the purpose of carrying out inspections. Of course, all centres are equally subject to unannounced inspections by other State bodies, for example, environmental health officers and fire safety inspectors have a right to inspect RIA accommodation centres without notice. All completed inspections carried out in RIA centres after 1 October 2013 will be published on RIA's website, ria.gov.ie.

Of necessity, unannounced visits would have to take account of RIA's child protection policies which require,inter alia, the need for prior vetting. The Minister would be concerned that if Members were being accompanied by other interested parties, such as media or non-governmental organisations, NGOs, this requirement would have to be complied with. Of course, these centres are publicly funded, but so are many other facilities to which access rights for Members of the Oireachtas would never be sought or contemplated. These are people's homes and their privacy must be respected.

While the Minister has no doubt of the bona fides behind what is proposed in this Adjournment matter, he does not believe it would be appropriate to accede to it. However, he is happy to deal with requests for visits in the same way as they have been dealt with to date, and he will continue to seek to facilitate any requests that are made to him, consistent with the need to meet other demands on RIA and on individual centres.

The Senator made his case very strongly. Unfortunately, the Minister could not attend to hear it but I will convey the sentiments the Senator has expressed. The point about privacy is valid, but perhaps there are other ways of meeting the residents without having to invade their privacy.