Neither the HSE nor the Coroner Service have ever raised any issue surrounding asylum seeker accommodation following resident deaths, it has emerged.
Coroners investigate the circumstances of a sudden, unexplained, violent or unnatural death during a process that may require a post-mortem examination, sometimes followed by an inquest.
However, none of the 39 deaths of asylum seekers between 2005 and 2012, as recorded in official statistics, have prompted the Coroner Service or the HSE to raise any issue relating to asylum seeker accommodation centres – some of which have been heavily criticised by NGOs due to their conditions.
A 2012 Irish Refugee Council (IRC) report on issues affecting children in State accommodation for asylum seekers underlined numerous concerns involving child poverty, overcrowding and nutrition.
The report noted, for example, a high prevalence of cases where children had gastroenteritis and an inability to tolerate the food provided in the accommodation centres.
Most recently, NGOs and asylum seekers gathered for a day of action calling for an end to the direct provision system, under which asylum seekers are provided meals and board but are not allowed to work.
As part of the campaign, retired Supreme Court Justice Catherine McGuinness referred to Ireland’s past abuses and harms inflicted on vulnerable people in unregulated, poorly monitored institutions “where profit was valued over humanity”.
She said it was “unspeakable that this is still happening today to a very vulnerable group of children, men and women”.
Yet despite such strong criticism, recent information provided by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter in response to a parliamentary question indicated that neither the HSE nor any Coroner has raised any question in relation to asylum seeker deaths and their accommodation.
“If the HSE or a Coroner were to raise an issue relating to the accommodation in which a deceased person lived prior to their death – and this has never happened – then the RIA [Reception and Integration Agency] would respond accordingly,” stated the minister, who underlined that most deaths technically occurred outside the centres (such as in hospital).
He said causes of death had been cancers, heart conditions and traffic accidents. In the case of deaths of children under the age of five “it is believed that a number were suspected cot deaths and still births”.
Minister Shatter said the RIA cannot access death certificates and therefore causes of death were only known in cases where friends or relatives had given this information to centre managers.
However, IRC chief executive Sue Conlan criticised the RIA for not ensuring it maintained a reliable record for causes of death.
“Asylum seekers are effectively in the care of the State and therefore RIA should be keeping a record of causes of death and ensuring that health does not deteriorate while in direct provision,” Conlan told Metro Éireann.
There are approximately 4,800 people – about a third of whom are children – in Ireland’s 35 asylum seeker centres. During the four-year period to the end of 2012, the RIA had closed 25 centres and was accommodating 2,161 fewer people due to decreasing applications for asylum. During this period, RIA spending declined from €91.5m to €62.3m per year.
