Direct provision- A scandal that needs to be tackled

IT was former US vice-president Hubert Humphrey who declared that “the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy, and the handicapped”.

Successive Irish governments have failed that test on our behalf, most notably in how the State has treated asylum seekers left to languish in the direct provision system.

The system was supposed to be a stopgap measure when it was introduced for six months in 2000 to cope with a sudden influx of more than 10,000 asylum seekers that year but it has been allowed to continue despite condemnation from many quarters for its inhumanity and lack of compassion.