Skellig Star hunger strike
Deputy Bríd Smith raised the hunger strike and poor conditions at the Skellig Star centre in Cahersiveen, saying residents had gone days without food and water was rationed. The Tánaiste said officials were trying to resolve the situation and that alternative accommodation had to be found, while the chair noted a complaint about naming a non-member.
We were doing very well up to now and proceeding in a co-operative way. Lots of Deputies are waiting to speak and I ask that they be allowed to do so.
Comment on this
The programme for Government commits to ending the direct provision system and replacing it with a new international protection accommodation system based on a not-for-profit approach. Currently, in the Skellig Star accommodation centre in Cahersiveen, 32 people are facing their third day without food. They have gone on hunger strike, which is a drastic decision to take, to force the issue of their need to be moved out of that rotten accommodation. The owner of the company that runs the centre, Paul Collins, has rationed their water to 1 litre a day. They would do better in a refugee camp in Lebanon. This centre has the disgraceful record of being, according to a consultant in public health medicine, completely inappropriate for accommodation during a pandemic. The residents need to be moved out. Their demand is simple, namely, that they be moved to own-door accommodation, which is available in Tullamore and Mosney. The Department of Justice and Equality is once again letting these people down. That they are on their third day of a hunger strike deserves a response from the Government.
Comment on this
I understand officials from the Department were in Cahersiveen yesterday trying to resolve this issue. We do, of course, want it resolved but before somebody can be moved to alternative appropriate accommodation, we have to find that accommodation. There is a difficulty in this regard and I think everyone appreciates that. The Deputy named somebody who is not a Member of the House and made an allegation against that person. I do not know the person and I do not know whether the allegation is true, but I am pretty sure it is a breach of the Standing Orders of the House for a Deputy to name somebody in the House and make an allegation about that individual. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle may wish to take that up with the Deputy.