Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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452. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide, in tabular form, the number of incidents of self-harm that required medical attention, in each direct provision accommodation centre during each year since 2009. [11345/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Reception & Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department is responsible for the provision of full board accommodation and certain ancillary services to asylum seekers in accordance with the Government policy of direct provision. There are currently approximately 4,300 asylum seekers in 34 centres around the State.

Aside from full board accommodation services provided by RIA, services to residents of direct provision centres are main streamed i.e. they receive a range of State services - education, health, community welfare supports and so on - in the same way as the general population.

Given the main streamed nature of health care provision, persons requiring medical treatment would be treated by the HSE in the same manner as a person living in the community. Whether the treatment arose from self harm or otherwise is a matter for determination by HSE. RIA has no role in the provision of health care and as such would not have any statistics of the nature sought. As a general comment, RIA has not been informed by the HSE that there is an issue of concern surrounding self harm in accommodations centres. It is also necessary to note that only one death of a resident in RIA centres since the inception of the direct provision system in 2000 can with certainty be said to be a suicide and that involved a newly arrived asylum seeker taking his own life in 2008 while in hospital.