Resident Protest at Drishane highlights dire conditions in direct provision centres
Yesterday, residents of Drishane Castle, a direct provision accommodation centre located outside of Millstreet in North Cork, held a peaceful protest against the conditions at the centre. Residents are particularly concerned about the lack of open space and play areas for children, the quality of the food and the conditions in living spaces (for media coverage, see here).
The ‘direct provision’ system was put in place to house asylum seekers while they wait for the applications for refugee status to be processed. Although originally designed for a stay of 6 months, over half the residents in the system have remained there for over five years. The centres are funded by the Department of Justice and privately operated on a for-profit basis.
Nasc has been receiving reports for many years that the living conditions in Drishane were unacceptable, akin to an open prison. However, residents living in direct provision centres throughout the country are often hesitant to complain for fear of backlash from staff and the risk that it may in some way impact their applications. Although the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), as a Department of Justice body, has stated that complaints have no impact on applications, residents continue to feel at risk while the complaints system remains an internal mechanism.
Nasc CEO Fiona Finn states, “The Minister for Justice must immediately address the conditions in the direct provision centres. The health and well-being of over 4,000 adults and children are at risk every second the Minister stalls in making urgently needed reforms to this system.”
Ms Finn continues, “In the short term, an independent complaints mechanism is essential to giving residents an outlet for making complaints that they can trust and that will have some impact. In the long term, we are calling on the government to implement a single procedure for asylum applications as promised, which will significantly speed up the application and appeals process, so that people are not left in limbo for years. We also urge the Government to not fall out of step with the rest of Europe in its asylum policies and procedures and opt back into the newly recast regulations in the Common European Asylum System.”
For more information about our campaigning work on the protection system and direct provision, click here.
