In The Irish Times yesterday there was a story by Kitty Holland to the effect that the largest direct provision centre in Dublin is to close at the beginning of December because the company that manages it has given notice of its intention to cease that contract. This is the third direct provision centre in Dublin to close this year. A total of 357 people have been staying in this accommodation. These are asylum seekers with families and young children who, in the case in Clondalkin, are in school in the community, in Deputy Curran's constituency. They have all taken great risks to get to safety here in Ireland. Now they are left with no information or idea about their accommodation. This is causing great anxiety to the children and their families and the wider community that these families are part of. Eighty of the people affected in Clondalkin already have refugee status and they will seek rental accommodation in the private sector. Given their limited means, however, they will have very little hope of securing that kind of accommodation over the course of two months.

The way this is being managed is appalling. Surely sensitivity and notice could have been extended to these families. Alternative accommodation could have been made available, or sought, prior to the public announcement of this, and prior to the communication to the families. When was the Department of Justice and Equality informed that the contract was to be discontinued? What plans are in place for the asylum seekers and their children, particularly those children in schools in the community? According to the report, the Department of Justice and Equality will meet the management of the centre this week. Why has it taken so long to meet the management and can the Taoiseach confirm that alternative accommodation will be put in place?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which is an ongoing one. The State offers accommodation to those who present in Ireland applying for international protection as asylum seekers. One of the centres in the State, the Clondalkin Towers Hotel, wrote recently to the Reception and Integration Agency, RIA, an agency of the Department of Justice and Equality, advising it that it would not seek to renew the contract in Clondalkin Towers. The contract is due to expire on 3 December. Senior management in the RIA engaged with the contractors on Tuesday, 9 October, yesterday, to discuss the matter. The welfare of residents will be kept at the centre of its approach. In the coming days the agency will be in touch with each of the residents to bring them up to speed with developments and to advise them of the next steps. It would not be appropriate to speculate on the outcome of those discussions at this stage.

In the wider scheme, the Department has placed an advertisement in the national media seeking additional accommodation fully compliant with the recommendations of the McMahon report to meet current and future demand. Separate to this is an open competitive process to establish a framework of accommodation centres from which it can draw down accommodation as and when needed over the coming years. The agency has contracted over 5,900 beds with an occupancy rate of 90%. This includes some 600 people in accommodation who have been granted permission to remain in Ireland and are, therefore, technically ineligible for accommodation in these centres but are still accommodated understanding the difficulty in finding accommodation at present. Some have received a decision while others received decisions several months, and indeed a couple of years, ago.

The Taoiseach said the hotel recently advised the Department but that the Department met it only yesterday. In the meantime the residents and their families are in limbo regarding their future in two months' time, 3 December. They need certainty. They have already made a difficult journey on a difficult path and now find their future here is in somebody else's hands and they have no information.

I accept the Taoiseach's commitment that the Department and the RIA will interact with the residents this week but given that this is the third centre to close in Dublin this year, is the Department aware of any further centres that will close over the coming months? What lessons were learnt from the previous two that obviously have not been put into action here, given that these families and their children are being left in abeyance without any idea of where they will be living when Christmas comes?

I do not have answers to all those questions but the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, is here and I imagine he will be able to provide more detailed answers later.

Every effort is being made to ensure that accommodation is secured for the people affected. I do not think anybody would like to see so many people losing their accommodation so close to Christmas. Through the RIA we are working to find solutions, whether an extension of the existing contract or alternative accommodation for the people living there.