Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2017
195. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that have died while in the direct provision system since 1 January 2007; the ages of the persons that died; the reason for the death; the number that were the result of suicide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40223/17]
View answerThe wellbeing of residents in direct provision is an absolute priority for the Reception and Integration Agency, which is the agency of my Department tasked with overseeing the provision of full board accommodation and certain ancillary services to persons in the protection process. Since the direct provision system was established in 2000 some 60,000 persons have benefited from these services, and some deaths of residents have occurred in this period.
While overseeing the delivery of different services, my Department has no direct role in the provision of health or health related services to protection applicants. Such services are provided through the Department of Health by the Health Service Executive (HSE) via hospital, primary care and the GP services. Protection applicants receive these health services on exactly the same basis as Irish or EU citizens who have medical cards. All health matters are private between a patient and his or her medical advisor and records in relation to any illness, including mental illness are, properly, not available to Departmental staff. Similarly, when persons in the protection process die, their deaths are treated by medical personnel and/or the coroner in exactly the same way as any other person who passes away within the jurisdiction of the State. The same procedures apply to protection applicants as to other persons who are not protection applicants.
While my Department collates some statistics on deaths of persons in the protection process, this is usually by way of a general knowledge of the cause of death, such as by way of information arising from the specified medical needs of the resident concerned. In most cases, the deaths would have occurred outside of State-provided accommodation e.g. in hospitals or hospices. Official records in relation to deaths are maintained by the Register of Births Marriages and Deaths (HSE). The Department has no access to death certificates, nor would it be appropriate under data protection safeguards for it to seek such access, and it is therefore not possible to provide the information sought by the Deputy.
