John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the mother or father is allocated payment for a child with regard to asylum seekers and the nominal social welfare payment they receive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19571/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Reception and Integration Agency is responsible, inter alia, for the accommodation of asylum seekers through the policy of direct provision.

The direct provision system seeks to ensure that the accommodation and ancillary services provided by the State meet the requirements of asylum seekers during the period in which their requests for asylum are being processed. Through direct provision, asylum seekers benefit from free full board accommodation without utility or other costs.

In addition to meeting these basic living costs, a direct provision allowance of €19.10 per adult and €9.60 per child was introduced some years ago and is paid by Community Welfare Officers (operating under the aegis of the Department of Social and Family Affairs) who also have the discretion to make once-off exceptional needs payments in special situations and other payments (e.g. back to school clothing). The direct provision allowance seeks to reflect the value of the above-mentioned services to the asylum seeker.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs has stated that the direct provision allowance is made payable to the person who registers for the allowance. In the case of a family, the payment would be made to whichever spouse makes the application for the allowance in the first instance. This is the same for other social welfare schemes operated by or on behalf of that Department.

Asylum seekers in direct provision also qualify for medical cards and can access the public health service in the same way as an Irish citizen.

Children are entitled to free education at Primary and Post-Primary level.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 236: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of cases of domestic violence that have been recorded within accommodation centres for asylum seekers; the action the Government takes when domestic violence is reported within an accommodation centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19574/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda Authorities that the level of domestic violence among asylum-seekers is not recorded separately from the incidence of such violence in the community generally. There is no basis for believing that domestic violence in accommodation centres is any more frequent than in the rest of the community.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has records in relation to prostitution among asylum seekers; the action the Government has taken to combat this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19577/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda Authorities that separate statistics are not maintained in relation to crime among asylum seekers. Accordingly, it is not possible to collate the information sought in the question without the allocation of considerable Garda resources to the task which would not be warranted.