Déanfaidh muid go léir comhghairdeas le Emily O'Reilly an tseachtain seo caite tar éis a ceapacháin mar Ombudsman Eorpach.

Last week, we celebrated the election of Ms Emily O'Reilly as the European Ombudsman. It is interesting that, this morning, she launched Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, in which she wrote the lead article, entitled "Asylum Seekers in our Republic: Why Have We Gone Wrong?" Today, she intimated her frustration - these are my words - with the way direct provision has been handled and the situation for those asylum seekers in direct provision. She outlined a number of legal issues with the system and the lack of oversight.

As Ms Justice McGuinness put it, some future Government should not find itself in the same position as this Government, which needed to apologise and recompense people in respect of the Magdalen laundries. A future Government should not need to recompense people in direct provision. We need an urgent debate on direct provision, possibly as soon as we resume. We must examine all of the aspects, including the legal situation, and determine how to redress the situation so that people who validly or invalidly seek asylum are treated properly.