As we read in a message quoted in that infamous Village magazine article, a WhatsApp message dated 6 November 2019 said: “Leo literally couldn’t give a f--- about the refugees. It’s Flanagan’s baby. There would be a huge amount of work required to get it over the line.” November 2019 was the 20th birthday of Flanagan’s baby and there have been many reports about the need to change the system for applicants for international protection here and calls to end direct provision.

In December 2019, the interdepartmental group on direct provision reported to the Minister for Justice and Equality. The group was to review the implementation of our obligations under the EU Reception Conditions Directive. One recommendation was that applicants for international protection be accommodated in short-stay congregated reception and screening centres and then moved to permanent State-provided or leased accommodation centres. This is at odds with the more recent Report of the Advisory Group on the Provision of Support including Accommodation to Persons in the International Protection Process, submitted in September 2020 and recently published. This advisory group, chaired by Catherine Day, recommended "ending the congregated and segregated accommodation of applicants for international protection and providing own-door accommodation sourced through the local authorities within three months of an application for protection".

Which report recommendations does the Taoiseach plan to implement? When will the White Paper be available for review?

In August 2020, Powerless – Experiences of Direct Provision During the Covid-19 Pandemic, a report by the Irish Refugee Council, was published. It outlines a chronology of key events and shows that the Government was asked that vulnerable people be moved out of cramped direct provision accommodation on 22 March. On 23 April the Ombudsman's annual report on direct provision was published. By 8 May, advocates and organisations were calling for the closure of the Skellig Star Hotel in Cahersiveen. By 19 May, 171 cases of Covid-19 were reported in 13 clusters in direct provision settings and the following week the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response looked at congregated settings. By the end of July, the residents of the Skellig Star Hotel were on hunger strike to highlight the inhumane conditions there. It was reported that approximately 1,600 people remained in shared bedrooms in August.

Also, in August, we learned that the Department of Justice was using resources to examine social media posts that are critical of direct provision.

This week, it emerged that two healthcare workers have been denied leave to remain in Ireland, despite having worked in nursing homes throughout the pandemic.

On 1 November 2020, the Sunday Independent reported that a mother in a direct provision centre claimed she was locked into her room without food or access to care during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic while waiting to be moved to the HSE isolation centre.

Also this week, I received a call about an alleged issue with a direct provision centre in Donegal, where a pregnant woman was trying to access transport for a hospital appointment. The centre is located way off the transport route.

Will the Taoiseach immediately grant leave to remain for any front-line workers who have been putting their lives on the line during the Covid-19 pandemic? Will he clarify whether he intends to implement the recommendations of the report by the expert advisory group chaired by Dr. Catherine Day or those contained in the report of the interdepartmental group?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government recently considered the report of the group chaired by Dr. Catherine Day. It is a very comprehensive report which goes through the entire spectrum of issues in regard to international protection. The programme for Government contains a commitment to end the current system of direction provision within the lifetime of the Government and replace it with a new international protection and accommodation policy centred on a not-for-profit approach. We accept that the current system is not for purpose and we are committed to changing it. That will take some time.

The Government has accepted the expert advisory group report and we are committed to publishing a White Paper by the end of this year, informed by the recommendations of that group. The White Paper will set out how a replacement for the direct provision system will be structured and the steps required to achieve that restructuring. Following the transfer of this function to his Department on 14 October, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will progress the matter and make any decisions around future accommodation provision. The Minister for Justice will address the recommendations relating to the international protection application process, including how to better engage with applicants who fail in obtaining asylum status or permission to remain. In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will engage with the report's recommendations on accommodation. That will be challenging because it will mean significantly more construction of housing and own-door facilities, over and above what is in the existing housing programme.

The process around the White Paper provides a mechanism to consider how these challenges can be addressed and dealt with. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is already taking action to introduce immediate reforms to the system, as recommended by the advisory group's intermediate report in June. These reforms include a formal system of vulnerability assessment that will ascertain whether those needing accommodation when applying for international protection have vulnerabilities that must be taken into account when allocating accommodation, determining the accompanying services they need, monitoring the accommodation and services provided to those accommodated in our centres against the national standards that will come into effect in January 2021, and providing a means for people in the international protection system to open bank accounts and to provide access to driver licences. All of these reforms will be progressed in tandem with steps to ease access to employment in terms of the applicable timeframe following people's arrival into the country.

I urge the Taoiseach to look up the excellent work of Catherine Griffin. She helped to set up the social enterprise Recruit Refugees Ireland. In addition, she designs and sells "End Direct Provision" T-shirts for Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland, MASI, and she is running a fundraiser to provide laptops for residents in direct provision. There are many volunteers, advocates and civil society groups trying to make a difference to the lives of asylum seekers. For example, Fingal Communities Against Racism recently held a winter coat drive. The organisers knew that coats were needed because they speak to the people in direct provision. The Sanctuary Runners project is another great initiative in community solidarity, integration and respect.

Will the Taoiseach show the people in direct provision that his friends and his Government colleagues do not just see refugees and asylum seekers as moneybag emojis? Will he commit to implementing the recommendations of the expert advisory group chaired by Dr. Catherine Day? Finally, will he state clearly that the report of that group will not be used as cover for the implementation of the interdepartmental report? That is very important.

I am meeting Dr. Catherine Day tomorrow to discuss the work of the advisory group, with a view to examining in detail how we can develop and implement the very comprehensive agenda set out in the group's report. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, one of the reasons we brought in serial testing was to make sure we could help the residents in direct provision. We wanted to be of assistance in terms of communications around Covid-19 by ensuring multilingual information would be available to those seeking international protection. We ensured that the Covid illness benefit would apply and that we could communicate the message that if anybody-----

What about the report of the interdepartmental group?

We will continue to progress that as well.

It should not be progressed. That is what I am saying.

It is not going to be put to one side because of-----

It should be set aside.

There are elements of it that can be progressed and we will drive on with them. There will be improvements but there are also significant challenges. The accommodation aspect is something we will have to work on in order to ensure we can deal with those challenges and move on with the White Paper process. There are immediate issues that we can deal with, as I outlined. The Deputy can take it that we want to implement the programme for Government's objectives in this regard.