Joint Committee on Health and Children, 19 December 2013 Question from Senator Jillian van Turnhout to Minister for

Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald TD in relation to Direct Provision Further to Minister Fitzgeralds comments at the last quarterly meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children (10 October 2013), particularly the acknowledgement that we need to understand more precisely their [childrens] experience [of direct provision] and what is happening to them to ask the Minister to commission an examination to establish whether the system of direct provision is detrimental to the welfare and development of children and whether, if appropriate, an alternative form of support and accommodation could be adopted which is more suitable for families and particularly children, in keeping with the recommendation of the Governments Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Dr Geoffrey Shannon. Reply from Minister: In the first instance, I would like to confirm that the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) is a functional unit of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS), a division of the Department of Justice and Equality. RIA is charged with providing accommodation and ancillary services to asylum seekers, that is, adults and their children, under the Direct Provision system while their applications for asylum are processed. I am advised that Direct Provision centres are monitored three times a year, twice by Department of Justice staff and once by an external company. The revised Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children was published in July, 2011. The Guidance deals with the recognition, reporting and management of child welfare and safety concerns. It sets out a number of key messages relating to the duty to protect children and support their welfare. The scope of Children First extends beyond the reporting of suspected neglect, abuse and welfare concerns. It emphasises the importance of multi-disciplinary, inter-agency working in the management of such concerns. Key to this is the sharing of information between agencies and disciplines in the best interests of children and the need for full co-operation to ensure better outcomes. The HSE has advised me that concerns about the welfare, safety or wellbeing of a child in Direct Provision are reported to the HSE Children and Family Services, in line with Children First. Referrals include welfare concerns such as a parent being hospitalised, parental illness, a child being left unsupervised by an adult or mental health concerns regarding the parent, while a smaller number would relate to child protection concerns. There is a specific unit within RIA - the Child and Family Services Unit - whose role is to manage, deliver, co-ordinate, monitor and plan all matters relating to child and family services for all asylum seekers residing in the direct provision system. This unit also links, where necessary, directly with an Garda Sochna.

A review of this State service is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality. Senior officials within my Department have engaged with the HSE and with the Department of Justice and Equality, to ensure that children who reside in Direct Provision are afforded the same levels of protection that their counterparts in the wider community are afforded. My colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality is developing new Immigration legislation, the impact of which should be to reduce the amount of times families spend in direct provision. I recently met with a number of Senators on a cross-party basis in relation to child welfare and protection concerns regarding direct provision. I have indicated that I will follow up on a number of matters arising from that meeting.