Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am minded that many of these amendments are focused on the status of children. I am not in a position to accept the amendment because the Bill reflects the EU directive where a stateless person is not defined. However, I concur with many of the sentiments that Senator Ó Clochartaigh has outlined. The entire composition of the working group that was established to investigate and report back on conditions and the entire nature of direct provision has the rights of children and child welfare at its very heart. In fact, the composition of NGOs and individuals who took part in the working group was central. I will comment on one of the issues that have been outlined by the Senator already, when he spoke about welfare payments that are made to children in direct provision. It is my understanding that the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Justice and Equality are making arrangements to work proactively, in a very short space of time, to ensure that the recommendations in the working group's report on those payments is followed through in very short order. I can appreciate where he is coming from. The idea that a child in the protection system would live in a direct provision centre for years on end is not something we can stand over, and that is the point of this Bill, although there has been criticism of it today.The point is that this issue has been kicked around in these Houses for 12 years or more. A section of the wider Bill has been removed in order to deal with the protection issue.

Senators should be aware that the number of new asylum applications in Ireland is rising again. Applications which numbered in the hundreds in recent years are now in the thousands as a result of the biggest movement of people since the Second World War. The Bill is seeking to change, reform and fix a broken system. The aim is to ensure that anyone who seeks protection in this country is dealt with in a speedy and humane fashion. That is the intention of the Bill and children are at the heart of that intention. I concur with the Senator on one point in the context of the referendum that was held in 2004. My party and the Senator's party stood in opposition to that move at the time but the provision is enshrined in our Constitution now and that is the reality of the situation. At that time, the Senator may recall, some of the sentiments expressed were shocking. I remember an Irish-African family were reportedly booed in polling station when they went to cast their vote. Some of what was said during that referendum campaign, at the height of the boom, was remarkable. It was an unfortunate move on the part of the then Government but in terms of asylum and immigration policy and a collective will to reform this area, no political party in these Houses is standing on an anti-immigration, far-right platform. It is to the credit of this democracy that we do not have the types of debates that are happening in other parts of Europe.