Improvements in direct provision must come now, says children’s ombudsman
Picture: The Children Niall Nolan Ombudsman Muldoon, For Moya Dr
The direct provision system must see changes now to improve the lives of children and the white paper on ending the system by 2024 cannot be used to justify “poor” services, the children’s ombudsman has said.
Dr Niall Muldoon was speaking at the Oireachtas public petitions committee about the findings of a recent investigation which found that the direct provision system did not support children or their best interests.
The ombudsman said his office was “not going away” and would be following up at six and 12 months to monitor progress made on his 11 recommendations.
While welcoming a government commitment to end direct provision by 2024, Dr Muldoon said the white paper should not prevent “immediate improvements” being made to the system now.
“Even if everything goes to plan with the white paper, these children have another few years in direct provision ahead,” Dr Muldoon said.
"We cannot allow the white paper to become the standard response to all issues relating to direct provision and it will not be accepted as justification for poor services, poor administration or inaction, for those currently in the system,” he added.
The ombudsman said 350 vulnerability assessments had been carried out by January and that these would help to identify gaps in supports for asylum seekers.
“The vulnerability assessments are going to be hugely important for us to understand what flaws were there before,” Dr Muldoon said.
“They will really give us an insight into a number of things that weren’t done for the last 21 years and we’ll get a sense from that,” he added.
The ombudsman also pointed out that unaccompanied minors seeking asylum were well looked after initially but were then “let down” once they turned 18 and moved from foster care into the direct provision system.
Around 50 young people per annum fall into this category and a new continuing aftercare arrangement must be put in place while these youths await a decision on their application, he said.
The children’s ombudsman added that a timeline to deliver on the white paper is needed: “As a Government, they need to start showing us the timelines and what the progress landmarks will be over the next 12 to 36 months.”