TD calls for immediate end to Direct Provision system
All residents in the system should be granted immediate amnesty says People Before Profit TD
Bríd Smith TD has called for the Health and Justice Ministers to immediately intervene in the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in Direct Provision centres. The TD repeated her calls, made in the Dáil last week, for emergency response teams led by the HSE to inspect the centres.
She said: “We have received disturbing images and information from residents and other concerned citizens that confirm the accommodation in several centres is dangerous and a flagrant breech of health guidelines for dealing with Covid-19. As we warned two weeks ago, we are creating the next catastrophe in these centres.”
The TD said her party will be proposing an immediate amnesty for current residents in the system that would grant them asylum and end the Direct Provision model. She said there was now large-scale capacity in hotels and other sites to adequately deal with accommodation needs for both Direct Provision residents and others in emergency accommodation.
“It is now clear that there is a compelling humanitarian and public health reason for granting asylum to those in the system and regularising their status. Continued reliance on Direct Provision and the failed system around it cannot continued in the middle of this pandemic.”
The TD highlighted again the overcrowding in sites to which asylum seekers have recently been moved to and the way the model operates meals, toilet and shower facilities as well as common areas as reasons why the model is unsustainable and dangerous to residents