Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I take this opportunity to wish all the Ministers and Ministers of State every success and congratulations on their appointment. Their roles are challenging, there were major difficulties of which we all know, and there is the added difficulty of having a coalition Government. A grand coalition, as this one is, poses challenges to us as the people in opposition. We are now more in demand and we have the important job of scrutinising every single line of every piece of legislation.

I, too, wish to raise the issue of direct provision. I do not know if anyone had an opportunity this morning to listen to the Ombudsman for Children or read the newspapers to hear or read the harrowing commentary from a survey that was conducted by people who live in direct provision. We are dealing with issues of widespread racism, bullying and exclusion being experienced by children who live in direct provision. In today's article and report, children were quoted as being called a "Black monkey", "a chocolate" and "a terrorist". People might say that is all very well, but it is very hard to take as a child when the first contact one has with an awareness of the colour of one's skin is a negative one, or when one receives negative commentary. That poses many challenges for many people.

Recently, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, I attended a gathering where I heard at first hand from many families, and their children, of their personal experiences of living in direct provision. I spoke to a member of the Movement for Asylum Seekers in Ireland, MASI, who spoke about how they ran away from their homeland but asked where did they run to. They feel they have been imprisoned and entrapped, with no one to turn to and no one who values them. That is not everyone's view but it is the experience of many people. There is also the lack of respect for the rights of children who are trapped in our direct provision system. Families are forced to share rooms with people who are strangers they know nothing about.

The Tánaiste, and former Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, recently said "we do not need to look across the Atlantic to find racism [because we] have many examples in our own country", which is really true. Direct provision is a profoundly racist system that violates basic human rights. Direct provision has a negative impact on the healthcare outcomes of families, of people, and particularly of children. The system of direct provision undermines people's values and harms the most vulnerable, which is an issue we need to address. The neglect and institutionalisation of disliked people in Irish society is not new to us all, and we can go on at great length in relation to that.

We need to work towards the abolition of direct provision, which I note is promised in the programme for Government.The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is charged with a special Ministry to deal with direct provision, children, equality and integration. I ask the Leader that as soon as possible and practicable, given the constraints and the time we have, we have the Minister here so that we share our views. More importantly, we must have a conversation not only with the public but with our membership, political parties and associations and we must look at how we, as leaders, politicians and people valued in our communities, interact with other people and how we can lead and address this issue. I look forward to the very ambitious target the Government has stated of abolishing the current system of direct provision. I look forward to hearing what are the alternatives because there are challenges but we need to see them, tease them out and talk about them.