Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I am deeply sad that we still need to debate this issue. I disagree with the Minister in that I do not see direct provision as a way of protecting people. The system of direct provision is an absolute disgrace and something of which we should be deeply ashamed. The reality is that thousands of people are effectively warehoused and forced to live on €19 per week. They are unable to work, to provide for themselves or to continue in education. Many lack basic cooking facilities and sleep in small, cramped rooms with several others. This is institutionalised poverty and we cannot stand over it.

One asylum seeker described the conditions and the level of control exerted over him as like living in an open prison. He recently asked the Committee of Public Accounts whether it would consider that a home. If one is signing in to one's home every day, then it is a prison. We have to think about the mental health effects of this system. Research from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has shown that depression and mental health problems are five times higher in the centres than in the wider community. We have designed a system which denies people the most basic human dignity and this is the result.

We should also note that there are currently more than 1,000 children living in these centres, many of whom were born there and are growing up there. Tanya Ward of the Children's Rights Alliance has spoken about the fear young children feel about being accommodated with large groups of older men, which is really sad. I recently met with a young asylum seeker who lives in Waterford and who told me about her devastation at not being able to continue her education like her friends. She is a beautiful young girl. Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, the Government's own rapporteur for child protection, has been clear on this. Direct provision is violating children's most basic rights and their ability to develop a normal life. It is just not acceptable. I know my colleagues in the Civil Engagement group are behind me on this and have made this case strongly themselves. My colleague, Senator Colette Kelleher, worked as a volunteer in a direct provision centre in Cork throughout the summer.

For years people have been objecting to this, yet we are still talking about it. Efforts have been made to improve things, and that is really good, but if we are honest, it is just not good enough. In May, the Government published a new migrant integration strategy but there is nothing in it on asylum seekers. The people we are talking about today do not even warrant inclusion. How can we credibly talk about the integration of migrants in this country and just ignore the thousands of people in direct provision? What message does that send?

Much has been said about the new single application procedure, but I have met people going through that process who have found it almost impossible to navigate. Many have reported that the procedure is complex and difficult. Some of the translations available are so poor that they look as if they were taken straight from Google Translate. As legislators, it is our job to raise these issues and fix them.

One thing I strongly want to raise is the right to work. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. Our recent report on this issue states clearly clear that "the denial of the right to seek paid employment is a serious infringement of the applicant’s human rights." That is not a minority view. The report has full cross-party support, including from members of the Minister's party. It was also a key part of the McMahon report in 2015 and, as the Minister will know, the Supreme Court recently ruled that the ban on the right to work is unconstitutional. We need the Government to act on this. I listened to the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, debate our report in the Dáil last week. He said that a decision is being worked on by the Departments. Will the Minister please give us a clear indication of when we can expect a decision and whether asylum seekers are being consulted? I am worried that the response will be overly restrictive. We will see some minor right to work but it will be just enough to get the Supreme Court off our backs. I urge the Minister to push his officials not to go down this road. I realise that he is in a difficult position. He has spoken with passion on these issues previously. I know him to be a thoroughly decent man who sincerely wants to improve people lives. I ask him, therefore, to go with his conscience on this and give these people the chance to work.

I want to quote one man in the system who appealed to Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon. He said:

Just let me work. Let me get up in the morning. Let me put on my clothes and have my breakfast with my children, and come back in the evening and say - ‘today I worked’.

That is not someone looking for support from the State; it is a person who, like any of us, wants to be able to support himself. It is about basic human dignity and the ability to use one's skills and talents. This Government likes to talk about a republic of opportunity. If, however, we deny people the right to work, then we confine them to poverty. Where is the opportunity in that?

I will finish by saying again that this system is shameful and will leave a legacy for which we will all have to answer. We look back at the neglect and the abuse inflicted upon people in the Magdalen laundries and other State institutions and ask how these things happened. Well, this is how it happens, through endless debates and reports but no significant change. Direct provision is a stain on the country's conscience and a denial of basic human rights. If we believe in justice and decency, we cannot stand over it.