Direct Provision System must be made subject to Ombudsman and FOI Acts: Public Service Oversight Committee

Report calls for increase in allowance and independent inspections

7 May 2015

Ireland’s Direct Provision system is not fit for purpose and requires robust independent oversight, according the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions.

In a report published this morning, the Committee is calling for the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) to establish a pre-Ombudsman independent complaints system for residents, and for the respective jurisdictions of the Ombudsman for Public Service and the Ombudsman for Children be extended to include the Direct Provision System.

It also calls for the Freedom of Information Acts to be extended to include the Direct Provision System and the RIA.

The Report finds the delay in processing the applications of residents is inexcusable, perpetrates inequality and ill-treatment at a state level and leads to a systemic problem with the provisions of public services. Another key finding is that the weekly allowances of €19.10 per adult) and €9.60 (per child), which have not changed since they were introduced, are insufficient, derisory and have been eroded to the point of being insulting to residents.

 The Report also contains 19 separate recommendations for the consideration of other Oireachtas committees. The Committee found access to appropriate health and childcare services is a major issue among residents and calls on the Committee on Health and Children to follow up on these concerns. It also has particular concerns in relation to the recast of Directive 2003/9 - Directive 2013/33, which lays down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers. It calls on: 

• The Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality torecommend that Ireland opt-in to the recast of Directive 2003/9 - Directive 2013/33. The Report expresses concern that the Oireachtas never had the opportunity to express its view Ireland’s approach to opting out of both Directives;
• Noting Article 15 of the 2013 Directive that Member States shall ensure that applicants have access to the labour market no later than 9 months, the Committee on Education and Social Protection to examine having the restriction on applicants’ right to work lifted as soon as possible.

The Committee also recommends that the responsibility for inspections at the centres be carried out by an independent body such as HIQA.

Committee Chairman Pádraig Mac Lochlainn says:  “Petitions to parliament or an elected assembly are often the ‘canary in the mine’, the metaphor for an early warning of serious danger ahead. This report on the Direct Provision System is, I believe, a ‘canary in the mine’ moment. The application system has been criticised as being unnecessarily complicated and lengthy; delays in issuing decisions is a result of the current fractured procedures.  That Ireland is the only EU Member State without a single application procedure is also of concern to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

“Ordinary Irish citizens have access to the Ombudsman for Public Service and those in the Direct Provision System do not. A section of Irish society is being neglected and quite possibly being discriminated against because, at the very basic human level they are being treated differently to the other citizens in not having the ‘system’ they are a part of open to the Ombudsman and the application of FOI. I commend this report to the Dáil and the Seanad and, as a Committee, we will revisit this report within six to twelve months to examine what action has been taken in regard to its recommendations.”

View video clip of Deputy Mac Lochlainn introducing the report.

Access Report on Direct Provision.

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Committee Membership

Deputies:
Richard Boyd-Barrett, Independent
Noel Harrington, Fine Gael
Michael Healy-Rae, Independent
Seamus Kirk, Fianna Fáil
Michael P. Kitt, Fianna Fáil
Pádraig MacLochlainn (Chairman), Sinn Féin
Helen McEntee, Fine Gael
Michelle Mulherin, Fine Gael
Derek Nolan (Vice-Chair), Labour
Patrick O'Donovan, Fine Gael
Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Sinn Féin
Sean Kenny, Labour
John Halligan, Independent
Jack Wall, Labour

Senators:
Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Sinn Féin
Jimmy Harte, Labour
Tony Mulcahy, Fine Gael
Susan O’Keeffe, Labour
Ned O'Sullivan, Fianna Fáil