Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Justice and Equality

To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will ensure that young asylum seekers with opportunities for further education are not deprived of those opportunities due to their forced relocation; and her views on the two cases reported in a newspaper (details supplied) on 30 August 2014?

Reply

The Reception & Integration Agency (RIA) is a functional unit of the Irish naturalisation & Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department and is responsible for the accommodation of asylum seekers under the government policy of direct provision and dispersal. Currently, 4,311 persons are residing in 34 asylum accommodation centres under contract to RIA.

The article in question did not identify the individual asylum seekers and in the absence of any specific information I am not in a position to comment further on the matter. If the Deputy is in a position to provide any further information on the young people involved I may be in a position to comment on this issue further.