Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
82. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he expects to publish the White Paper on ending direct provision; the steps his Department is taking to address some of the recommendations highlighted in the Ombudsman for Children’s report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54565/23]
View answerI will just double-check that this is the question regarding the White Paper and the ombudsman's report because I had my question order incorrect.
This question follows on from the discussion we had in this Chamber two weeks ago about the report of Dr. Niall Muldoon, the Ombudsman for Children. It gives us an opportunity to discuss again some of the recommendations that came up in that report and in the initial White Paper on Ending Direct Provision. Can the Minister give us some more information or any more timelines in that regard?
As of 5 December, just over 100,000 Ukrainian nationals have been granted temporary protection in Ireland. As the Deputy knows, we are accommodating approximately 75,000 of those in State-provided accommodation. We are also accommodating just over 26,000 people in the international protection system. In that context, the underlying assumptions upon which the initial White Paper was published in February 2021 need to be examined. That foresaw 3,500 people arriving into the system per year. Last year, we saw 15,000 arrivals and this year, we will probably see approximately 13,000 people arrive into the system.
With regard to the steps my Department is taking to address some of the recommendations in the Ombudsman for Children’s report, I would like to state that the Department is working to procure new accommodation and to transition current residents from emergency accommodation centres to more permanent accommodation within the portfolio. The revised White Paper implementation approach will focus on increasing the State-owned permanent accommodation capacity to build an appropriate system to meet an increasing need.
With regard to the recommendation for the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, to put in place a robust quality assurance mechanism, including an independent inspectorate, my Department has put in place a number measures to address concerns that include monitoring of permanent centres for adherence to national standards; a vulnerability assessment programme; resident clinics; the publication of the revised IPAS child safeguarding statement; and the provision of child protection briefings to managers and staff at IPAS centres.
Finally, with regard to the third recommendation, IPAS will continue to prioritise children and address their vulnerabilities in accordance with the requirements of the EU reception conditions directive. IPAS will continue to engage with all staff in centres that accommodate children in the international protection system to ensure they complete Children First training, have a designated liaison person assigned and adhere to the Children First legislation and guidance.
As we said previously in this Chamber on the day of that debate, we really are very lucky to have Dr. Niall Muldoon and his team. When he highlights an issue, he really does it because it needs to be highlighted. As we know, we have so many children living in direct provision, which includes a combination of children who are here as unaccompanied minors. That combination is the most heartbreaking and worrying because, obviously, they do not have an adult or family member looking out for them. Then, we have children who are here maybe with family, or some of their family, at least. It is really important that we are taking every step.
I particularly want to focus on what the Minister said regarding one designated or dedicated person in each centre, if I picked that up correctly, who is specifically for children and can go the centres to raise awareness. Is that something we currently have or is that something we are bringing in? The Minister might expand on that because it is a good idea and a very good point. That will alleviate many of the issues and difficulties.
In the same way that a school must have a designated liaison person in terms of its implementation of Children First, so must IPAS centres which have children there. I am aware that not all of them have children there, but those that do have to require that. We have an officer in our Department making sure there is compliance with that because that is absolutely essential.
I acknowledge the work the Ombudsman for Children has done in terms of highlighting imperfections. There are many imperfections in the system. I absolutely recognise that. Working with our Department to improve them is really important. His focus in the report we discussed was on children within the system, usually with their parents. There is work taking place, in terms of the work we are doing with the child and young people's service committee, CYPSC, all over the country to do more in-reach into international protection accommodation where there are children and also work we are doing directly with Tusla in terms of the use of new family support workers who go into international protection centres where there are children and work with the parents there in terms of providing additional supports.
I thank the Minister for clarifying that point in relation to the designated person. He will probably share my view that State-owned accommodation is where we have to go. Obviously, in an emergency situation or when something is unfolding, one has to respond in real time. There are such situations. If we are all being honest with ourselves, there are a lot of people making significant amounts of money from this and there will always be a question mark. I would say that about anything to do with care. I would like to see a situation, for example, in the foster care system, where we only have State-owned facilities or else foster families, but we are not looking at the private sector. Those two things should not be together. It is the same in relation to this. I am aware there have been some moves, but is there is any other information that the Minister can give us on how exactly he sees that rolling out or how he sees us acquiring more State-led and State-run accommodation?
In terms of the future obligation on the State to accommodate an increased number of protection applicants from what we were dealing with over the past ten years, I have been clear that I believe we need to have a much higher percentage of those applicants accommodated in State-owned accommodation. Where we have State-owned accommodation, we have better control over the conditions. We have better control of the location as well and we can locate these around the country rather than having accommodation focused in particular areas. Importantly, as Deputy Funchion raised, there is also a value-for-money issue as well. Certainly, when one looks at it over a ten-year period, the State makes a saving if it puts in the capital investment in terms of State-owned accommodation rather than using providers. Going forward, because of the significant increase in the number of international protection applicants, it will have to be a mix. There will be some private providers continuing to provide accommodation but we have to grow that State-owned element where we have much greater control of conditions and locations. We can plan it much better, including in terms of ensuring value for money for the taxpayer.
