Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, to the House. He is here nearly as often as I am.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for coming here himself. I hope to receive an update about the White Paper on the end of direct provision. I understand there are additional pressures on the system this year. I am aware the Department stated this week that it is accommodating more than 58,000 people who arrived in Ireland this year, including 42,000 Ukrainians and 16,000 people seeking international protection. However, we must also acknowledge that this year marks the 22nd year of direct provision in this country, which was only meant to be a short-term solution. It seems that bringing an end to direct provision is never a top priority for the State and it gets pushed aside when other priorities arise.

I understand our response to Ukrainian refugees is outlined by the EU temporary protection directive, but I need to Minister to listen to me when I say this. Many people have said to me that there is a difference in the definition of what a refugee is, but we are, unfortunately, creating a two-tier system in our country for refugees and that needs to be stated honestly. As a member of the Traveller Community, I know exactly what it is like to be treated less than people from other backgrounds. I believe this is what we are doing in this country and for that reason, it is important that we set and meet clear deadlines to end direct provision for international protection applicants in this country.

I welcome Ireland's response to refugees from Ukraine. What human rights organisations and myself are looking for is the equal treatment of refugees in this country.That is the message today. My point is about ending direct provision. We know there are 11,689 people living in direct provision, of whom 4,000 have residency status and are ready to move out. However, with the housing crisis it is very hard for people to find accommodation. Last week a man came to see me. He is looking for a one-bedroom house in Cork. Last week we heard the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, speaking openly about people who have their papers being charged rent in direct provision centres. I do not know where the idea came from that people who are living in this dire accommodation should be charged rent. Obviously, I would agree that we should put responsibility for accommodation for all people with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has many things to deal with in making sure people are safe. People who have their papers to move out of direct provision have nowhere to go. We must look at that. Will the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, answer the question on where we are on ending direct provision?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for raising this extremely important matter, which is close to my heart. We emphasised this matter when we brought forward the White Paper to end direct provision in February of last year. I will outline some of the achievements that have been made since the White Paper was published. We created a unit within my Department to implement the White Paper. We established some governance structures. We brought in a programme board which included officials from other Departments, expertise from the private sphere, former residents of direct provision and people who are involved in NGOs to get their expert views and advice on how to develop the new system. We also created an external advisory group, chaired by Dr. Catherine Day, who has been so important in the work she has done on direct provision and many other areas.

Since then, we have been developing a community accommodation model and looking at the development of an ownership model that could be used by approved housing bodies, so that they could bid for funding to develop housing in the community for international protection applicants. We have had a great deal of assistance from the Housing Agency on the delivery of that. We have advanced the development of an integration programme to support the principle of integration from day one, which is central to the White Paper. We have initiated a planning process for phase 1 reception and integration centres. In August of this year, we launched a new integration fund, offering grants to civil society organisations for projects supporting the integration of international protection applicants. The awards will be announced in the coming weeks.

Senator Flynn is absolutely right when she says that the Ukraine crisis has posed a huge challenge to what we were trying to do. Indeed, it poses a big challenge to much of what my Department is doing generally. We have had to create a unit of 100 people in my Department, from nowhere, to respond to the needs of Ukraine. As Senators know, some 54,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the country, of whom my Department is housing 44,000. We are also housing 16,000 international protection applicants. That is a huge jump on last year's number when we housed 7,500 people. That has created huge challenges, such as the need to strip teams, including the White Paper team, many of whom have had to move over to the Ukraine response. They were very much involved in City West. I have prioritised the moving of people back to their original work. I prioritised the White Paper team so that some of them are now back to focus on the White Paper.

It is going to be very difficult to achieve the target of having everyone out of direct provision by the end of 2024 in terms of the accommodation element. I have to be honest about that. The landscape has changed absolutely in the context of 7,500 people last year as opposed to 60,000 people this year.

However, the White Paper was not just about accommodation. Accommodation is central but integration and services were also key elements of the White Paper. I am looking to bring those forward. In regard to accommodation, I want to increase the State-owned capacity to accommodate people in international protection so that the reception and integration centres, those initial centres where people would be able to get own-door accommodation or singles would be able to get own-room accommodation, will be prioritised. We might build some or we may acquire some. We may acquire some existing buildings or residential accommodation or something like that in terms of accommodation. Regarding the two other elements, HIQA will soon be inspecting direct provision centres. It is important that this monitoring role is being on by an organisation as recognised as HIQA. Vulnerability assessments were not being done prior to my time as Minister but they are being done now in respect of all new international protection applicants.

My Department will be funding integration officers in every local authority to assist people in international protection in engaging with services, education and training. The community fund will be broadened out further to support NGOs and smaller scale community groups that are actively helping to integrate into the wider community international protection applicants living in their respective areas.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his honesty. We are looking for clarity and, most important, people living in direct provision are looking for clarity. We are discussing HIQA and integration, which are critical for people living in direct provision, but for people who have been living in direct provision centres for three to four years, or even ten years in the odd case, having a home after leaving the system and being able to participate in society is what they want.

There are people living in direct provision centres who are now expected to pay rent. Is there anything that the Department can do to stop this? They should not have to pay rent for something that previous Governments came up with, namely, direct provision centres. I would like to work with the Minister and people living in direct provision. If we cannot end the system in 2024, when can we and what will be put in place to protect people's human rights and equality? I was disheartened to see that €2 billion was drawn down in humanitarian funds specifically for Ukrainian refugees. While I welcome that it was for Ukrainian refugees, what about the black and brown refugees who also need humanitarian support? We have a great deal of work to do to show people seeking international protection that we care about them.

I appreciate the Minister's honesty and look forward to working with him and people living in direct provision centres to see when the system can be ended if it cannot be ended in 2024.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There are approximately 4,500 people living in international protection centres with status. We will not charge them rent. They are entitled to full social welfare if they are not working, although many of them are. Some of them are in centres where they get free food points. It is not particularly fair that, on top of the supports that everyone else gets, they are getting these additional supports, so we may have to regularise their situation and the situation of others compared with those who do not have status, do not get social welfare and do not get access. There may be some degree of equalisation, but there will not be any charging of rent.

The Senator spoke about a two-tiered system. There was a situation last weekend that we all wanted to avoid, where some people coming to this country were not provided with immediate accommodation. Some of them were international protection applicants and others were Ukrainian refugees. Both were in the same situation, in that we were not able to provide everyone with accommodation. As of lunchtime today, though, we have been able to get to all of the people we were not able to accommodate over the weekend, be they Ukrainian or international protection applicants, and offer them accommodation. That is a small, but positive step forward.