Ombudsman says State failing child refugees by relying on private accommodation
By Cillian Sherlock, PA
The Ombudsman for Children has found that an over-reliance on private commercial sector accommodation has failed children in international protection.
The ombudsman is calling on the Government to move away from emergency responses for children seeking international protection and to plan to ensure that they are growing up in safe, secure environments.
It comes as the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) published its first-ever special report on safety and welfare of children in direct provision.
The report was published as the ombudsman, Dr Niall Muldoon, was not satisfied with the response to his 2021 investigation on direct provision and he feels that the crisis-driven response currently being executed by Government has made the situation worse for children living in State-provided accommodation.
He also feels that since the OCO published its first investigation into direct provision in 2021, progress on the White Paper on Direct Provision has stalled or regressed.
While acknowledging “inordinate pressure” on the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) infrastructure, the report said: “An over-reliance on the private commercial sector accommodation has led to system failures on practical, economic and legal grounds.
“Sadly, children are at the sharp end of these failures.”
The OCO continues to receive complaints on behalf of children seeking international protection, ranging from concerns over living conditions, food quality and rules in accommodation centres on health and wellbeing.
The OCO said it has also received complaints about how transfers of children had been communicated and administered, as well as their impact on children’s healthcare and education.
The report adds: “While IPAS have been open to engaging with the OCO in relation to these complaints and concerns, the serious impact of this ongoing crisis on children, requires short-, medium- and long-term solutions to be sought and expedited.”
IPAS is a division of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
In its report, the OCO recognises that since February 2022 the onset of war in Ukraine precipitated a crisis-driven response that has presented further and unprecedented challenges for the Government in this area.
However, the OCO said this has also “exacerbated the potential adverse effect on the rights and welfare of children” residing in State-provided accommodation.
It has highlighted three specific recommendations to safeguard children.
Firstly, it said IPAS should cease the use of commercial hotels and plan for accommodation capacity pressures.
The OCO said that hotels and B&Bs are “not suitable places for children to grow up”.
“Recent figures show that the State is spending more than 42.1 million euro each month on rental, management and the maintenance of accommodation for asylum seekers,” it said.
Secondly, the OCO called on IPAS to put in place a “robust quality assurance mechanism”, including an independent inspectorate.
Thirdly, it said IPAS should have regard to the vulnerability of children within the international protection process in the planning and provision of their accommodation needs.
It said only 10 per cent of children seeking international protections have received a statutory vulnerability assessment.
Dr Muldoon said: “How we treat children coming to this country will be a defining issue of our generation, and as things stand, history will not judge us well.”
He added: “We cannot allow, what everyone agreed was not good enough, to become acceptable simply because it is better than tents, or better than nothing. We owe these children much more respect than that and as a nation we need to guard against lowering standards during this crisis.”
