AN ADEQUATE and transparent complaints system is not yet in place in direct provision centres for asylum seekers despite an undertaking by the agency in charge, according to groups representing asylum seekers.
The complaints system needs to be taken out of the hands of the Reception and Immigration Agency, which also manages accommodation centres for asylum seekers, according to the representative groups including Irish Immigrant Support Centre, Doras Luimni and Free Legal Advice Centres.
Claire McCarthy of the support centre called for the remit of the Office of the Ombudsman to be extended to asylum seekers “as a matter of urgency”: “Every other department has an independent complaints office . . . It’s a principle of democracy which is being ignored.”
She pointed to the case of a Guinean asylum seeker living in the direct provision centre in Co Cork who claims a complaint made by 74 asylum seekers at the centre to the agency last October was ignored.
The letter included complaints concerning a lack of a school bus for children attending the centre and a lack of nappies for residents with babies who had to pay for them out of their social welfare allowance of €19.10 per week plus €9.60 per child. She said the immigration agency did not respond but added that the complaint, part of which centred on social welfare provision at the centre, was copied to a person dealing with the asylum seekers who then brought it to the attention of some of the signatories.
The man involved said this had led to some signatories feeling intimidated, adding those who complained have the impression that “if you complain it backfires”.
In response, the Department of Justice, on behalf of the immigration agency, said when it received a complaint which was relevant, a notice in response to the complaint would usually be posted in the accommodation centre once matters had been investigated.
The department said the “general correspondence in this instance did not relate to the functions” of the agency, and the correspondence was passed on to the relevant external body, the Health Service Executive. The HSE said the matter had been investigated. However, it was found that there was “no basis for these complaints”.
Siobhán O’Connor, of Doras Luimni, said that “residents have no confidence” in the complaints system.
Saoirse Brady, of Free Legal Advice Centres, said: “People are afraid to use the complaints system in the first place because they are afraid of repercussions.”