Asylum centres should come under Ombudsman, say TDs

The Ombudsman’s jurisdiction should be extended to the direct provision system for asylum seekers, an Oireachtas committee delegation has said.

Administration of the centres should also fall within the remit of the Freedom of Information legislation, said the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Oversight and Petitions chairman, Pádraig MacLochlainn.

"If Irish people were found to be living in these conditions in the US or Britain, people would not find it acceptable," the Sinn Féin TD said, speaking after two fact-finding visits to the Great Western Hostel in Galway and Mount Trenchard direct provision centre outside Foynes, Co Limerick.

The visits – the first in a series by the public oversight committee – were undertaken by Mr MacLochlainn, with deputy chairman Derek Nolan (Labour) in Galway and committee member Jack Wall (Labour) in Limerick.

Awaiting decisions

About 127 single men of 39 nationalities are staying in the Great Western off Eyre Square in Galway, with some of the longer stay occupants waiting between eight and 11 years for decisions to be made on their asylum applications.

It was the focus of a protest in June 2011 after several occupants were given notices to quit for failing to sign in.

A total of 43 single men of 21 nationalities are currently staying in Mount Trenchard in Foynes, Co Limerick, where protests took place last August.

Located 5km from Foynes and 43km from Limerick city, it has been described by the Irish Refugee Council as one of the worst in the system here, while non-governmental organisation Doras Luimní has called for its closure.

Management and staff are doing their best to work within restrictions, Mr MacLochlainn said, but he expressed concern about a "disconnect" between the Reception and Integration Agency, centre operators and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

War-torn situations

It was “very worrying” that there was no “multi-agency approach” to providing counselling and support for people who have come from war-torn situations, he said.

“Operators are being asked to house large numbers of men without adequate health and social service support,”he said.

The ban on working while in the asylum system, long delays in handling applications, and issues around health, food, space and cultural differences were among the challenges raised by some of the asylum seekers who spoke to the TDs during their visits, which were closed to the media.

Mr Nolan said that the occupants were forced to live an “empty, nihilistic existence” , given the length of time awaiting outcomes while unable to access work and education.

Public awareness

Both TDs said there was greater public awareness and concern about the impact of long stays in direct provision, which had been designed for stays of up to six months only. However, Mr Nolan said that the asylum seekers’ issue was one which, in his experience, attracted the “worst public reaction” albeit from a minority – but a “significantly vocal one”.

The new public oversight committee is compiling a report which it intends to submit to the Government’s working group on direct provision chaired by Mr Justice Bryan McMahon.

It intends to visit Mosney in Co Meath and another direct provision centre in the Dublin area within the next month, and has already held hearings on the issue.