Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

expresses concern that:

— a humanitarian and public health crisis is intensifying because of the failure of the Government to provide accommodation to asylum seekers;

— there are now more than 1,200 international protection applicants without accommodation in Ireland;

— hundreds of international protection applicants are sleeping in approximately 150 tents around Mount Street in central Dublin;

— there are no toilets, no running water and no sanitation facilities at this tent encampment on Mount Street;

— there have been reports of cases of skin disease and respiratory disease among the men living rough in tents;

— the men sleeping rough are being left in increasingly unsanitary and dangerous conditions, at risk of severe weather and violent attack;

— tents at the same location were set alight in a violent and racist arson attack in 2023;

— in a letter to the Irish Times on 13th March, 2024, infectious diseases registrar Dr Ralph Hurley O'Dwyer said that in recent weeks he has "looked after multiple young men, international protection applicants, hospitalised with serious medical conditions as a result of sleeping outside in the cold";

— Dr Hurley O'Dwyer said "the management of these conditions requires lengthy, costly hospital stays"; and

— on 14th March, 2024, Dr Angy Skuse, Medical Director of Safetynet Primary Care, told RTÉ the conditions on Mount Street were "inhumane" and said she had treated people at the site with multiple serious health issues;

notes that:

— on 18th February, 2024, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth confirmed to RTÉ that there were 2,151 vacant bed spaces in International Protection Accommodation and 2,801 vacant bed spaces in accommodation contracted for Ukrainians;

— on 14th March, 2024, the Department confirmed to the Irish Times that an audit of emergency accommodation capacity had found about 500 extra beds; and

— the Department also revealed there were about 2,500 "potential vacancies" among beds contracted for Ukrainians;

further notes that:

— in February 2021, the Government published a White Paper to End Direct Provision and to Establish a New International Protection Support Service, which was informed by the work of the Advisory Group on the Provision of Support including Accommodation to Persons in the International Protection process that was chaired by Dr Catherine Day, which recommended providing six State-run reception and integration centres;

— in July 2023, Dr Day and the Advisory Group published an updated report advising of changes required since the publication of the 2021 White Paper entitled "Report No. 2 from the External Advisory Group on Ending Direct Provision", and stated six reception centres should urgently be provided;

— in the updated paper, Dr Day said three centres should be delivered by the end of 2023 and a further three by the end of 2024;

— none of these State-run reception and integration centres have yet been provided; and

— there have been media reports that the Government may defer identifying locations for these centres until after the local elections in June 2024;

agrees that:

— the State has domestic and European Union (EU) law obligations to provide "material reception conditions" for asylum seekers;

— material reception conditions include the basic needs of accommodation, food, clothing and access to personal hygiene facilities;

— in April 2023, the High Court found the State's failure to provide these material reception conditions, to an international protection applicant, was unlawful;

— in December 2023, the High Court again found the State had a clear duty to provide material reception conditions; and

— in his judgment, in December 2023, Mr Justice Ferriter said: "[A]s a matter of EU law (as transposed into Irish law) the State remains under a continuing, mandatory obligation to provide international protection applicants with basic needs including accommodation on an uninterrupted basis from the point at which qualifying persons apply for international protection"; and calls on the Government to:

— agree that its failure to provide material reception conditions to international protection applicants is unlawful;

— publish its audit of International Protection Accommodation Services and Ukrainian accommodation, identifying locations where beds are vacant, how long they have been vacant and the reason for the vacancy;

— explain why an audit of vacant beds was only completed in mid-March, when the State has been failing in its duty to provide accommodation for many months;

— publish the revised White Paper the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is working on which details its short-, medium- and long-term plan to deal with accommodation for asylum seekers;

— expedite plans to provide six State-run reception and integration centres;

— ensure the international protection system is adequately resourced so applicants receive decisions in a timely and efficient manner; and

— ensure there are adequate procurement controls and enhanced transparency when contracts for State-funded accommodation for asylum seekers are being awarded.

Yesterday and today the focus of the Dáil has clearly been elsewhere. However, I really want to use the next two hours to bring it back to exactly where it needs to be. It is not in this Dáil Chamber but five minutes away on Mount Street, where scores of asylum seekers are again sleeping rough right in front of the International Protection Office. This is what can only be described as a dystopian illustration of where our State is going and, unfortunately, where it is at the moment By the time the Dáil returns after the Easter recess their numbers will undoubtedly have grown. People coming to this country seeking safety from persecution are sleeping rough with no running water, sanitation or toilet facilities and are at risk of violence.

These are human beings and oftentimes that is lost in the discussion, the debate and the narrative we hear in this Chamber, on our airwaves, on social media, and unfortunately within Government policy itself. They are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and the Government has repeatedly failed to do that. I welcome the fact the Minister will not oppose this motion but I find that interesting because the first point of our motion calls for the Government to "agree that its failure to provide material reception conditions to international protection applicants is unlawful".

Effectively, the Government is putting its hands up today and saying that how it has been treating these people is unlawful. I will be really interested to hear the Minister's statement on that matter because I do not know whether I have ever come across that instance within the Dáil. Not only do I want a statement from the Minister I also want action and to hear what measures he will put in place.

There can really be no confusion about Government policy on this matter. Offering asylum seekers basic accommodation is not optional. It is not some gift the Government can decide to withhold. It is the law. The Government is in continuing and wilful breach of the law and has actually agreed in that regard. Under EU and domestic law the State has an obligation to provide material reception conditions for asylum seekers. Material reception conditions include meeting the basic needs, such as accommodation, food, clothing and access to personal hygiene facilities. The High Court has already ruled on this matter twice. In April 2023 - because this is an issue that has persisted for more than a year - the High Court found that the State's failure to provide material reception conditions to an international protection applicant was unlawful. Again, last December the High Court reiterated that the State has a clear duty to provide material reception conditions. Mr. Justice Ferriter said:

...as a matter of EU law ... the State remains under a continuing, mandatory obligation to provide international protection applicants with basic needs including accommodation on an uninterrupted basis from the point at which qualifying persons apply for international protection.

"Accommodation on an uninterrupted basis" really could not be any clearer. What has the Government continued to do? It has told asylum seekers there is no room at the inn and offered them an extra €75 in lieu of accommodation. This does not satisfy the State's clear legal and moral obligations to these vulnerable asylum seekers. It comes nowhere close and the Minister knows that. Unfortunately, that is why I have said - and will repeat - that I believe the policy of this Government, the Minister and his Department is to use those individuals suffering and being treated absolutely diabolically by this State on Mount Street and elsewhere across the country as a warning, symbol and sign to people who want to come here and who need to come here to seek refuge. The Government is saying to them to not come here because we have nowhere to put them. There can be no other logical answer to that. Today, I really hope the Minister will stand there and tell me how I am wrong because it would really break my heart to think we live in a country where that is a defined Government policy. I can see no other explanation.

The Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has repeatedly said in the media that there are issues with accommodation and that he hopes anyone who is considering coming to Ireland takes that into consideration and does not come here because of the accommodation pressures we are facing. He has said it repeatedly in the media and in the Dáil. Yet, we also have been told that there are beds.

While the Government continues to state that there are no new beds, Laura Fletcher of RTÉ has numbers from the Department that clearly outline there are 2,180 empty beds within the IPAS system. I hope the Minister will clarify that today because it has been put on the record a number of times and I have not heard any clarifying statements from the Minister. He has clarified the position on accommodation for Ukrainians and he conducted an audit of accommodation for Ukrainians and identified some additional spaces, but I have not heard any comment or discussion about an audit of IPAS accommodation. If he has those figures, I would appreciate it if he would give them to us.

The Government needs to be transparent in this regard. If the State and the public purse are paying for beds to lie empty while we had men whose tents were collapsing under the snow, and who had to use the streets and paths to go to the toilet, with children also involved in that, the Minister needs to tell us why. He needs to tell us exactly how many there are and why those decisions are being made. That is the least we should expect from the him today.

When he came into government, his promise and commitment was to get rid of direct provision and it is a far fall from that ideology to where we are today. I understand there have been challenges and I know it has been hard, but those men and anyone who is coming here to seek refuge have been failed badly by the Government. Given the Minister has acknowledged that what he has been doing is unlawful and given he is not opposing our motion, I hope he will finally say that he got it wrong and tell us how he is going to make it right. I do not believe anyone in this country, or at least the absolute majority, believes it is okay to leave people on the side of the road without the supports they need, no matter where they are from. I went to Sydney shortly after the Olympics. At that stage, essentially, the government there had made a decision to sweep all the homeless people off the streets and hide them in advance of the Olympics so the eyes of the world did not have to be subjected to that. Hand on heart, I never thought we would reach that day but, unfortunately, I think we have. I hope the Minister will tell us exactly what he is going to do.

The questions that we need to have answered today are as follows: will the Minister publish the audit of IPAS and Ukrainian asylum seeker beds? Will he tell us where they are and why they are empty? Will he tell us when he is going to establish the six reception centres? When will he bring to Cabinet the revised White Paper? What is his plan?

It is clear that, as a wealthy country in Europe, we will always have immigration and people will seek refuge here. That is not going to lessen or go away. We need a government that is capable of managing it, and in a humane way, but that has not happened to date. I hope the Minister's response will outline all of those measures and address all the issues. What we do not want is for the shameful treatment of these vulnerable international protection applicants to continue to be a stain on this Government, one that, unfortunately, could become an indelible mark, and one that, as a state, we will have as a reminder of how we failed people who needed our assistance.

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