Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2013
919. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he has considered instituting an independent complaints mechanism for asylum seekers living in the direct provision system, for example through the Ombudsman's office; and if complaints relating to direct provision regarding children will fall under the remit of the Ombudsman for Children as part of the extension of her remit by the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012. [17015/13]
View answerThe Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), a functional unit of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department, is responsible for the provision of accommodation and ancillary service to protection applicants in direct provision. RIA is currently providing accommodation for 4,751 persons in 35 centres.
Section 5 (1) (e) of the Ombudsman Act, 1980 and section 11(1) (e) of the Ombudsman for Children's Act, 2002 provide that either Ombudsman shall not investigate any action taken by or on behalf of a person in the administration of the law relating to, inter alia, asylum. Whilst there are no plans to change those legislative provisions to give either Office the power to investigate asylum related matters, INIS, including RIA, has administrative arrangements in place with both Offices to assist and provide information on matters brought to its attention. At all events, it should be noted that it was not intended that either Ombudsman would serve as a first instance appellant authority in relation to day to day administrative complaints mechanisms. It is a requirement that a person who wishes to appeal to the Ombudsman must first try to solve the problem with the public body concerned using formal local appeals mechanism.
In relation to the broader issue of complaints by residents of direct provision centres under contract to the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department, these are dealt with in accordance with the revised RIA House Rules and Procedures which are available in several languages on the RIA website at http://www.ria.gov.ie A copy of these rules and procedures is provided to all asylum seekers on arrival at their accommodation centre.
Experience has shown that, given the nature and the number of such complaints, they are best resolved by informal discussion between residents and management at a local level. Where more serious complaints arise, residents have the right to lodge a formal written complaint with centre management and, if the issue remains unresolved, residents can take the complaint to RIA. It also allows for direct referral to RIA in certain circumstances. It is important to note that if a complaint is made in respect of a decision made by a particular RIA official, the appeal is not dealt with by that official. The complaints system contained in these House Rules is considered by RIA to be broadly in line with the guidelines set out by the Office of the Ombudsman for internal complaints systems.
It is important to emphasise that the rules specifically state that (a) residents should not be afraid to complain when they need to and (b) making a complaint will not affect how other official agencies consider their claims to remain in the State i.e. on asylum, subsidiary protection or general leave to remain grounds.
To give the Deputy a broader picture on these issues, I should point out that RIA already publishes on its website aggregated yearly statistics on formal written complaints made under these Rules and will also do so in its 2012 Annual Report which will be published shortly. Moreover, in an effort to provide greater transparency, in the next few months RIA will begin publishing completed inspection reports carried out in respect of each of the centres under contract to it. The Deputy might also wish to note that I have answered other Dáil Questions today (specifically 16483/13) which provide greater detail on the position of children in the Direct Provision system.
