Contractors in charge of a Direct Provision centre in East Clare are to apologise to a resident who claimed her sick child was denied bread because the canteen was closed for the night.
In a post on Facebook, the woman, who has been living at the facility at Knocknalisheen for a number of years, says staff refused to give her just one slice of bread, despite her son having a tummy bug.
The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the matter and says that the contractor has ‘acknowledged responsibility’ for what it calls a regrettable and isolated incident.
Staff will be re-trained, while the contractor will ensure that tea/coffee and snacks are available on a 24/7 basis as per the contract.
Statement from the Reception Integration Agency
The contractor has acknowledged responsibility for this regrettable and isolated incident. The contractor will meet with the resident to apologise to her personally.
They will also arrange for the retraining of staff and ensure that communications between staff are clear and unambiguous.
The RIA contacted the contractor when it was made aware of the situation and asked them to investigate the matter.
The contractor has since reverted to us to advise that this unfortunate, but isolated incident was a miscommunication between staff. Unfortunately a new staff member misunderstood a request and informed the night porter that no food was to be provided which led to this regrettable incident.
The contractor will also ensure that tea/coffee and snacks are available on a 24/7 basis as per the contract.
Ministers in the Department of Justice and Equality have actively engaged in reform over the past number of years, constantly striving to improve the international protection process.
The Department places paramount importance of the welfare of those residing in our accommodation centres.
The Report of the Working Group to Report to Government on Improvements to the Protection Process, including Direct Provision and supports to Asylum Seeker, also known as the Justice McMahon report, was published in June 2015.
The Report contains 173 recommendations many of which have implications for a number of Government Departments and services.
The Department of Justice & Equality has since published three progress reports on the implementation of the Report’s 173 recommendations, the first in June 2016, the second in February 2017 and a third and final report in July 2017.
The final progress report shows that 133 of the recommendations have been reported as fully implemented and a further 36 are in progress or partially implemented. This represents a 98% full or partial implementation.
Any alleged violations of any nature should be reported to RIA or the Minister or the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for children.
