Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Health and Children further to Parliamentary Question No. 108 of 1 July 2010, if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the question concerned direct provision centres at which asylum seeking children are resident with their families, and not children's residential centres or accommodation for separated children seeking asylum; and if she will answer the question in respect of the lack of Health Service Executive or Health Information Quality Authority inspection of direct provision centres. [30702/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I should firstly say that my response to Dáil Question No. 108, dated 1st July 2010 was based on a misinterpretation of the question.

The question refers to the system of direct provision for asylum seekers which is operated under the aegis of the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of the Department of Justice and Law Reform. The operation of these centres is a matter for the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform. I am informed that, currently, there are 48 such centres contracted to RIA around the country. 6,352 persons are currently being accommodated in that system, approximately 1,900 of whom are under the age of 18.

As with the standard provisions for the protection and welfare of children in family settings, Public Health Nurses, Community Welfare Officers, General Practitioners and school principals engage with residents and with RIA on issues of concern, the aforementioned interagency meetings being the main forum for this. RIA operates information clinics on-site at all accommodation centres where residents can discuss any issues which they may have directly with RIA staff on a one-to-one basis. RIA takes any complaints about its centres seriously, including any complaints about centre staff, once these complaints are brought to its attention with sufficient details to allow an investigation.

I am further informed that RIA is a multi agency organisation and has staff seconded to it from various Government bodies. Although a vacancy in this respect currently exists, one such secondment is from the HSE and the official concerned has responsibility for the Child and Family Services Unit within RIA. That unit ensures that the state meets its obligations under various legislative provisions relating to children and the family (including the Children Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) in respect of asylum seeking families in the Direct Provision system.

It should also be pointed out that RIA produced its own Child Protection Guidelines for Direct Provision Centres in 2005. This was done in conjunction with the HSE and was based on the HSE's Children First Guidelines. Those Guidelines provide for the referral of child protection and welfare cases to the HSE as they arise. In addition to the secondment referred to above, RIA and the HSE maintain a close working relationship by way of regular bilateral meetings, interagency meetings and so on.

Since October 2008, a programme for the vetting by the Garda Síochána of the employees of all RIA contractors is being implemented.

I am informed that in all asylum seeker direct provision centres contractors are obliged, on foot of a Memorandum of Agreement with the RIA, to ensure that their premises comply with and operate in accordance with all relevant statutory requirements of local authorities in relation to planning, building, bye-laws, bedroom capacity, food, food hygiene, water supply, sewage disposal, fire precautions, minimum pay, legally binding industrial or sectoral agreements and health and general safety.

All centres are subject to unannounced visits by RIA staff, including senior management, to ensure that standards are being maintained. The maintenance of standards is also facilitated by 'clinics' carried out in centres. This involves staff from RIA holding meetings with residents in centres on a one-to-one basis. These afford residents an opportunity to comment on accommodation and operating standards as well as facilitating discussion on other issues.

In relation to the issue of complaints, I am informed that all asylum seekers who avail of RIA accommodation are provided with a copy of the current House Rules and Procedures document (House Rules) on arrival at their accommodation which includes details of the complaints procedure which residents can avail of. The complaints procedure itself has an informal mechanism for local resolution of complaints and disputes and a formal mechanism which can apply where a local resolution cannot be achieved and where the matter is referred to the RIA for consideration. Residents at any of RIA's accommodation centres can raise concerns with centre staff or directly with RIA in accordance with the procedures set out in the House Rules.