Social Democrats co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD has called on the government to dismantle the discriminatory system of direct provision, saying today\u2019s constitutional ruling should be the final nail in its coffin.<\/p>\n
Deputy Shortall said:<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s Court of Appeal ruling recognises that a child with Irish citizenship living in direct provision is entitled to child benefit payments in her own right, despite the fact that her mother does not have legal residency in the State.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this very significant judgment, the judge said the failure to treat this child equally to other Irish citizen children was unconstitutional. This case highlights once more how the regime of direct provision for asylum-seekers is a form of institutional discrimination.<\/p>\n
\u201cDirect provision was only ever intended as a short-term solution, but has turned into a national disgrace. Today\u2019s ruling should be the final nail in the coffin for direct provision, and the government should now take steps to dismantle it.<\/p>\n
“Instead of institutionalising families and children in what are the Magdalene laundries of today, the government should work to replace direct provision with a humane asylum system which includes making timely decisions on people\u2019s applications for refugee status.”<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
5 June 2018<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD has called on the government to dismantle the discriminatory system of direct provision, saying today\u2019s constitutional ruling should be the final nail in its coffin. Deputy Shortall said: \u201cToday\u2019s Court of Appeal ruling recognises that a child with Irish citizenship living in direct provision is entitled to child benefit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n