Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 285: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, further to Parliamentary Question No. 174 of 30 June 2010, if he has received correspondence from a centre (details supplied) in County Cork on the need for an independent complaints mechanism in direct provision centres; if, in view of the issues raised in that letter, he will agree to the establishment of such a mechanism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34807/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As set out in the aforementioned PQ reply, I am informed by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) that the rules and procedures for RIA accommodation centres, which includes a complaints mechanism, were recently revised arising from a report from a Working Party, the membership of which included the Refugee Information Service and the Irish Refugee Council. The House Rules document which was agreed by that Working Party clearly sets out a working complaints mechanism for use by residents and staff alike at RIA accommodation centres. This includes streams for informal and formal complaints and allows for local resolution as well as referral to the RIA.

As stated previously, the system of direct provision is sui generis and it remains the case that the complaints resolution procedure set out in the House Rules is considered to be the only one appropriate to the circumstances which obtain in that system. In these circumstances, the structure of the complaints procedure contained within the revised House Rules is broadly in line with the guidelines set out by the Office of the Ombudsman for internal complaints systems.