Five complaints made by people in direct provision

The Office of the Ombudsman has received five complaints from people living in direct provision, in the first two weeks since asylum seekers were allowed to contact the office with concerns.

A spokesman for the Ombudsman said the complaints, in the main, revolved around issues of transfers and transport, and was in line with expectations.

Any complaints lodged with the Ombudsman must first have been raised within the direct provision centre and then afterwards with the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) before being lodged with the Ombudsman.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children (OCO) said it will work harder to engage with residents in direct provision centres after it received no official complaints from asylum seekers in the first two weeks since it was legally able to deal with them.

From April 3, the OCO, like the Ombudsman, can accept complaints from people living in direct provision, including complaints from children or on behalf of children.

However, a spokesperson for the OCO said yesterday that while there had been a number of contacts and inquiries in the past fortnight, there had been no formal complaints lodged.

The OCO spokesperson said there may be a reluctance on the part of those in direct provision to lodge complaints out of fear it may in some way adversely affect their asylum application.

There are approximately 1,500 children living in direct provision centres around the country.

Paraic Walsh of the OCO said its new function of handling complaints would be “inquisitorial and not adversarial”, and would be solution focused.

He said children or people on their behalf could complain about administrative actions of reviewable agencies and where there was evidence of poor or unfair administration or evidence of an adverse effect on a child.

The OCO cannot look at complaints regarding asylum, citizenship, family reunification, residency, or visas, and needs special circumstances to justify looking into matters that are or could be before the courts.

Complaints relating to house rules set by the RIA, which could involve anything from the standard of direct provision accommodation to meals, can be brought to the OCO, if unresolved, having been raised internally, if they are child specific, and if it was based on unfair or unsound administration.

Asylum-seeker support groups have criticised the complaints process within direct provision, claiming many people were reluctant to raise issues in centres over fears it might impact negatively on them.

RIA has fact sheets for those who wish to make complaints to the Ombudsman or OCO. It said: “Making a complaint will not affect your asylum application, a protection application, or an application for leave to remain.”