Direct provision reform
Deputy Adams criticised the Government’s failure to reform direct provision and raised a case involving a woman who died in a Galway centre. The Minister of State said several issues had been raised, could not address them all there and would correspond directly with the Deputy.
The programme for Government commits the Government to reforming the direct provision system. Last week's report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is a scathing indictment of the Government’s failure on this and other matters. It identifies major legislative and policy failings in regard to hate speech, hate crime, the response of An Garda Síochána, the use of ethnic profiling and the direct provision system. Last week, we heard of the disturbing case of Sylva Tucula, who lived at the Great Western House Direct Provision Centre in Galway. She died there last August and was buried in early May without any of her friends being informed. Up until two years ago, the Department of Justice and Equality provided information about deaths in direct provision. It no longer does. Between 2007 and 2017, 44 people died in direct provision. Fifteen of these deaths had no known cause. Will the Minister undertake to publish the Government response to the commission's report, setting out what actions it will take to address the many failings in legislation and policy?
