PRINGLE WELCOMES CONSTRUCTIVE DEBATE ON DIRECT PROVISION

Thomas Pringle TD has welcomed the debate which he initiated this week on Direct Provision, describing it as “a very constructive debate which shows how much perceptions have shifted on this issue”.

“It has been very heartening for me to hear the contributions that came from all sides of the House in condemning the system of Direct Provision. It is a very powerful message to send that there is across-the-board political support for the abolition of a system that is unjust, inhumane and completely wrong.

“However, it was certainly disappointing that the Minister with the executive power to deal with the system, Frances Fitzgerald, did not contribute to the debate. It would have helped her to be here tonight to listen to the contributions of her party and Government colleagues across the board on the Direct Provision system and to hear what needs to change and the political support for that. It has become clear to me over the last two nights of this debate that there is a political will to deal with this system and reform it to end direct provision.

“While the Motion itself was defeated as the government has committed itself to awaiting the outcome of the working group, it got all-round support in terms of the individual contributions and is ultimately what I believe to be the only solution that will properly rectify this inhumane system. The current policy is the result of a mind-set within the Civil Service and is effectively institutional racism; there is political support across the board to end it.

“I know the Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is limited in what he can do in this area, but he must now take the political support he has received tonight, ram it down the throats of the civil servants and show them that there is the political will which they cannot hold back or resist any longer. They have to change the system and do the humane thing because if they do not, in ten or 15 years’ time another Taoiseach will be apologising on behalf of the people for what we all know is a system that cannot continue and that will go on destroying lives in the future if we allow it to.

“The Minister should take the support he has received from all sides of the House this week and tell those back in the Department that the system will change from this point on. But he must act now,” stated Pringle.

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