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

I thank Senators for raising this issue. When the history of it is written, Seanad Éireann and those in it who have advocated for children will be acknowledged. Those in direct provision centres will be thankful for what has been said. I remind Senators that the system was set up at a time when the people who came to this country seeking protection were living in parks and sleeping on benches, with no facilities available to them. That was the reason the direct provision system was established initially as a short-term measure. It should have been radically reviewed within five years, but during those five years there was a citizenship referendum which focused on those coming to the country from abroad. I ran for election for the very first time at the time of that citizenship referendum and it upset me. It was my first foray into politics and the emotions stirred at the time were quite despicable. This should have been done an awful long time ago. At the time we had 10,000 asylum applicants a year. That was the nature of the system trying to cope. The reality is that although we had a fantastic opportunity to do this a number of years ago when resources were available, it was not done. Now we find ourselves in a situation where we are trying to sort out the situation as numbers increase. In 2015 there were over 3,000 applicants, a doubling of the number the previous year. We have committed to accepting 4,000 refugees from the Syrian crisis.

I never made a commitment to abolish this system and do not believe it can be abolished. Some Members of the House have said we should abolish the direct provision system and that there are alternatives being offered. I have not seen one that is viable. For me and people working in the Department who care about the issue deeply, abolishing the system would mean sticking 4,500 people on a housing list or asking them to find private rented accommodation for themselves. That is not a viable option. I would stand over a system in which people lived in an excellent centre for a number of months but not grew up or raised a family.