Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ba bhreá liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le gach Seanadóir agus, dar ndóigh, leis an Aire Stáit. Measaim go raibh díospóireacht fíor-suimiúil againn. Is léir go bhfuil an-suim ag na Seanadóirí uilig sa cheist seo. Gabhaim buíochas leo as ucht an taighde agus gach rud eile atá déanta acu le cur leis an díospóireacht ar an gceist fíorthábhachtach seo.

I welcome the speech by the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin. As I said at the outset I appreciate his commitment to dealing with direct provision. I thank the 15 or 16 Senators who contributed to this debate. I single out Senator Zappone's speech and I welcome what she had to say on trafficking. We are very much at one on those issues. I am glad she raised this issue which is one of profound concern and goes to the heart of what human dignity is all about. I acknowledge Senator van Turnhout's previous motion on this issue last year and her comments today. I note that last year the Government accepted that motion and I am disappointed that despite the Minister of State's bona fides on this issue, which I do not question, it remains the fact he is a junior minister so far and we have good will expressed by Government and by previous Ministers who have supported reform and yet have been unable to deliver it.

To my colleagues who are considering whether they should support the Government's counter-motion, it disregards all specifics we have proposed in our motion. It specifically excises any issue of opening up the possibility of people being able to work. That came across very strongly in Senator Hildegarde Naughton's comments, which were disappointing. It is quite clear that there is a strong resistance to any revisiting of the issue about whether people should be allowed to work. I remind Members that the only other country where asylum seekers are denied the possibility of seeking work at some stage in the asylum process is Lithuania. It also excludes the specific recommendations in terms of guidelines for the support of victims of torture and the recommendation that there would be female-only and family-friendly reception centres. There can be no good reason for excluding those specifics.

I simply do not buy Senator Bacik's idea that this counter-motion is to allow space to the working group. What does that mean? Is it not the prerogative and indeed the duty of the Oireachtas to agree on what we think the working group should be going with? If it were the other way around and the working group came out with proposals, we would be quoting the proposals we agreed with. It makes absolutely no sense for us as elected representatives not to make specific recommendations about desiderata, about things we think are necessary and essential. I note and I welcome that the Minister of State said that the working group would include the issue of work. I notice that was not included in his script. I wondered why that was. I wonder whether I should read any significance into the fact that he added by way of a verbal addendum the notion that the working group would look at the issue of the right to work. That did concern me. I am not in any way questioning him on the issue.

I believe the Minister of State is deeply concerned about this issue. I advise him not to be afraid to walk on an issue of principle should he have to. There is a precedent, a Minister of State did vote in accordance with her conscience in the recent past and the Minister of State should not be afraid to do so either. I would be very concerned if I were the Minister of State by the inadequacy and the vagueness of the counter-motion before us today. He does not have to take a lecture from me on the matter as I know he is concerned. When one considers that the clothing allowance for children, which is given twice a year, has been cut from €75 to €50, it brings home the meanness in the current system. We have not followed through on the European asylum system directive on receptive conditions, which lays down minimum standards, and this reveals a lack of commitment to getting things right. This must change. We, the Seanad Members do not need to wait on the outcome of the deliberations of the working group. I wish the Minister of State the very best of luck with the round-table. It is very important that it is happening but we should certainly be clear that what we are recommending needs to happen and needs to happen soon. That is the reason I am pressing the motion.