Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 May 2023
32. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to develop effective communication with communities where accommodation for asylum seekers is to be established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26327/23]
View answerI want to ask the Minister about the plans he may have to develop effective communication with communities with regard to the accommodation of asylum seekers and refugees. We have seen the need for dialogue or communication with communities over the past number of weeks. What plans do the Minister and Department have for effective communication?
I thank the Deputy for the question. Since the beginning of 2022, Ireland and many other European countries have experienced a significant increase of new arrivals seeking international protection. As of 26 May, there are over 20,600 people accommodated in the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, system as a whole, compared with 11,000 people at this time last year. Combined with the arrival of over 73,000 people displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this is the largest displacement of people in Europe since the Second World War. Over 64,000 of those are in State-provided accommodation.
I recognise that there are some issues with communications with communities where accommodation centres are being established and the Government is working toward addressing these issues by improving advanced communications, where appropriate, for elected representatives, local authorities and local communities.
Due to the scale of the current crisis, contracted emergency accommodation for those seeking refuge must be occupied on a faster timeline than would otherwise be the case. While efforts are made to notify public representatives and State agencies in advance of utilising a building for the accommodation of people seeking international protection, the emergency nature of the response means that advance communications are not always as early as my Department would like.
Where possible, before the opening of any facility the Department engages with local elected representatives to provide information as soon as possible following the agreement of terms with contractors. These constraints limit the time window for advance engagement. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, my officials and I have also made significant efforts to engage with a series of community organisations when new centres are opening to provide information and to dispel any misinformation being circulated.
The Department of An Taoiseach is currently developing a communications strategy aimed at developing a national model that will support communications with communities where accommodation centres are opening. The aim of this work is to provide accurate information to communities and to work to ensure that misinformation will be corrected.
I want to be very clear. No community has the right to veto anybody living in that community. When I talk about communication, I am not referring to dialogue or negotiations; I am very much referring to communication. There has been a real failure by Government until this point to engage with communities and have proper communication. There are genuine concerns about a lack of services, whether it is public transport, GPs or children trying to get school places.
I appreciate that there is an emergency situation in terms of trying to put people under a roof in accommodation as quickly as possible. The communication failure has left a vacuum. There are some on the extreme right who have to be faced down and challenged. The vacuum has allowed them to move into that space and exploit vulnerable communities that are genuinely concerned about a lack of services. I welcome that there will be a communications strategy. We need to know when that will start to be rolled out within communities.
The Government is developing a more strategic long-term plan to deal with the allocation of accommodation in consultation with local government. Government is also developing a more systematic approach to communicate with local communities. A tender process was initiated by the Department of the Taoiseach on 25 April to seek support and advice in the development of effective public communication in response to the movement of refugees and asylum seekers into communities across the country.
This is a short-term contract for a specific phase of work and the request for tenders issued to three service providers as per procurement rules. Those invited to tender were chosen based on a broad range of experience in this type of engagement and communication work. Only one tenderer submitted a response. Q4 has been invited to tender based on its experience of working on public sector strategies such as BusConnects, which involved engagements with a broad range of stakeholders and public policy proposals which impact directly on local communities. Departments and agencies have worked collaboratively on the development of more structured adjudications and Q4 will help us to strengthen this model where necessary and build capacity for more effective communication and engagement.
We have opened 150 centres in the past year and a half. It has gone quite well. We have had dozens of engagements with communities at a variety of levels as well and we have given information as soon as we can. It has worked well in many areas.
I agree it has worked well in many areas. However, there are communities that feel they are not listened to and have past experience of commitments given by previous Governments and Ministers for services to follow, such as centres that would open up and GP and education services and teachers for when new communities come into their communities. Many of those failed to materialise. Alongside the dialogue and communication, we need a cross-departmental approach and solution. What engagement is there with other Ministers and Departments with regard to critical analysis of those other areas, whether it is education or transport, where there is a deficit? What engagement is there with other Departments and what commitment is there to put in place any of those additional needs?
I assure the Deputy there are layers of communication across all levels of Government. At the highest level, we have the Cabinet subcommittee on Ukraine. We also have a senior officials' group. At a local level, we have community response forums, which are co-ordinated at a higher level by the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, and County and City Management Association, CCMA. I engage on a monthly basis with a series of NGO stakeholders that work on the ground and with Departments on co-ordination. We have another higher level of communication strategy coming from the Department of the Taoiseach as well. I will note some points from the tender that might be of interest. Work will be closely conducted with the team in the Department of the Taoiseach and other key stakeholders, to develop and produce a draft project plan to engage effectively with the public and key stakeholders on the movement of people who seek refuge. The plan should enable the team to share practical and timely information with communities and key stakeholders on accommodating new arrivals; assure communities and key stakeholders that Government is working together to ensure services are equipped; raise awareness of supports being added into the system and facilitate a good engagement between new arrivals and communities. We have many layers and will add more at a higher level and on the ground.
