Yvonne O' Sullivan is Policy & Advocacy Officer at FLAC
‘Direct Provision’ refers to the part of the protection system where asylum seekers, victims of trafficking and forced labour are accommodated and fed by the State, in the majority of cases by private companies that have been contracted by the State to provide these services.
This system was introduced in 2000, at a time of housing crisis. It was designed to be a temporary measure to deal with unprecedented and rising numbers of asylum seekers seeking protection in Ireland. Unfortunately, the originally envisioned six-month stay in Direct Provision did not materialise; some residents have spent up to 14 years without a determination on their protection application, with an average stay of 4 years in the system. FLAC has issued two separate reports on the Direct Provision system, in 2003 and in 2009, outlining the human rights issues involved and making recommendations for reform.
Over the summer of 2014, Direct Provision has become the focus of some controversy, with the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Aodhán Ó Riordáin TD, commenting on the inhumane nature of the system and the need for some level of reform. As a result, Minister for Justice & Equality Frances Fitzgerald TD decided to establish a Working Group to make recommendations to improve direct provision for residents. As a first step in the process, the Department convened a roundtable consultation for NGOs on the protection process in Ireland on 18 September, to which FLAC was invited to contribute.
Nineteen national and community organisations participated, with both Ministers and the heads of both the Reception and Integration Agency and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service also present. All participants shared views on possible reforms within the protection and direct provision systems. Minister Fitzgerald welcomed all involved but made it clear that her Department had to be realistic in what it could achieve within current financial constraints. She stressed she was eager to implement recommendations that could immediately improve the lives of people in direct provision.
For its part, FLAC raised three key areas of concern on Direct Provision with recommendations on the right to work, the complaints mechanism and adequate income supports for asylum seekers. FLAC drew on these recommendations from our 2009 report, One Size Doesn’t Fit All report, which gave a legal analysis of the direct provision system. We asked for asylum seekers to have the right to work, as provided for under the EU Reception Conditions Directive, after a certain amount of time awaiting a determination on their protection application.
A priority for FLAC has been the reform of the complaints procedure within direct provision which lacks independence, transparency and a right to an effective remedy. FLAC has recommended that the Department model a new complaints mechanism along the guidelines of the Ombudsman’s Internal Complaints Mechanism, which advocate greater accessibility, fairness and independence, simplicity, confidentiality, effectiveness and flexibility. FLAC is calling in particular for the embedding of a robust right to appeal in the Direct Provision complaints mechanism to ensure every person’s right to access justice.
Lastly FLAC recommended that child benefit to be reinstated for asylum seekers with children, since 2009 all asylum seekers with children have been excluded from accessing this universal payment and many others have been denied access since 2004 when the habitual residence condition was introduced. The direct provision allowance was also recommended to be increased in line with inflation to ensure an adequate standard of living as well as abolishing third level fees for asylum seeker children.
All these recommendations will be considered by the Working Group, established by the DJE, in the coming months. The group is hoped to comprise of both high ranking civil servants from numerous departments and NGOs working with asylum seekers. The Working Group once in operation will then publish its recommendations which FLAC hopes will address the many real grievances of the asylum seekers who call direct provision their home.