'People were kept safe': Dept of Justice defends direct provision Covid strategy

Lucky Khanbule (MASI) with Safra Banu, Azwar Fuard & Mariyam Fuard as they end their 3 day hunger strike and celebrate the news by Minister Helen McEntee that the residents of the Skellig Star DP Centre will be moved to more suitable Centres from next week. Picture: Alan Landers.

The Department of Justice’s handling of Covid-19 with regard to direct provision “worked, by and large”, according to its chief.

Secretary General Oonagh McPhillips, one of only two female heads of department in Ireland, told the Public Accounts Committee at its meeting this evening that “the proof in the pudding is that people were kept safe”.