Direct Provision System Is 'Not Fit For Purpose' - Report

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

In a report published today, 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 found the delay in processing the applications of residents as 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.

Committee Chairman Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said: "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."

(CD/JP)