What is STAD?
We are a coalition of organisations standing up against direct provision. STAD is calling for the Government to fulfil the commitments it made to end direct provision, and to give a clear timeline for this. We want a humane alternative that respects the human rights and dignity of international protection applicants.
About Direct Provision
The system of direct provision was introduced to Ireland in 1999. Protection applicants (people seeking asylum in Ireland) are provided with accommodation, usually in large, congregated settings such as former boarding schools, convents, guesthouses and hotels. Almost all of these centres are privately-owned and all are privately run and generate huge profits for the companies who run them.
In 2021, there were about 7,000 people living in direct provision accommodation (including the initial reception centre, direct provision centres and emergency centres) across Ireland. Almost 1,700 of those were children.
In 2023, around 20,000 people are living in these centres. Over 4,000 of those are children.
Many residents do not have access to any cooking facilities. Single people commonly share a room with several strangers and entire families may share one room.
When direct provision was first introduced the then Minister for Justice said that people would stay no longer than 6 months in the system.
The number of people who, after receiving their immigration status, still cannot move out of Direct Provision due to lack of access to affordable accommodation.
The number of people living in direct provision centres across Ireland.
“Direct Provision was established in 1999 as a temporary response to accommodating people seeking International Protection. In the decades since, it has proven expensive, inefficient, and ill-equipped to respond to shifting trends in international migration. More worryingly, it failed to respect the dignity and human rights of individuals…”
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’ Gorman
Since its creation, direct provision has consistently received widespread criticism not only from human rights activists and organisations in Ireland, but from international bodies including the Council of Europe and United Nations.
The founding member organisations of STAD have been advocating for change to the direct provision system for over 20 years, holding that the current system creates barriers to integration and contributes to poor mental and physical health and social exclusion.
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