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Hatch Hall Direct Provision Centre, Dublin GoogleMaps

Information about deaths in Direct Provision no longer released by department

Between 2003 and 2013, 53 people who lived in Direct Provision died.

CRITICISM HAS BEEN levelled at the government over a lack of transparency around deaths of people residing in Direct Provision centres. 

Previously, records were released each year about the number and nature of deaths of people seeking international protection in Ireland. 

However, the Department of Justice stopped providing the details two years ago. 

The calls for less secrecy around the system come after a woman who lived in Direct Provision was buried by the State quietly without her friends being told.

Sylva Tukula died at the Great Western House Direct Provision Centre in Galway in August 2018.

The Department of Justice & Equality had made it known to gardaí that her body should be released to friends for burial but nine months later, An Garda Síochána told the coroner they had exhausted all options to find a next of kin. Sylva was then buried in a cemetery in Galway, yet nobody she knew in Ireland was able to be present.

It is understood the Coroner found that she died from natural causes and authorised her burial. 

The department today said that Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration David Stanton TD will write to Sylva’s friends in Galway. 

“It is clear that there was a breakdown in communication in this particular case, which the Department very much regrets.”

“The Department will take all necessary steps to ensure that this outcome is never repeated.”

These, the department has said, include examining “what State actors can do differently in the event of a death occurring of a Direct Provision resident without identifiable next of kin in the future”. 

Following the revelations, there have been calls for clarification around how this mistake was made and criticism of a lack of clarity relating to the number of people who have died while living in state-provided accommodation in Ireland. The last known figures were published in 2017.

The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has said that Sylva’s case is example of “the need for bodies falling under the responsibility of that department to work better together”.

“Given the nature of Direct Provision, it is particularly important that there is an open investigation by an independent inspectorate to identify the facts and circumstances surrounding a death and to identify any shortcomings or failings which may arise,” IRC CEO Nick Henderson told TheJournal.ie.

This is something which happens routinely where there is a death in custody.

One Third

Asylum campaigner John Grayson, writing for the Institute of Race Relations, has reported a lack of information surrounding the number of deaths and suicides in Ireland’s Direct Provision system. 

In July 2017, the Irish Catholic newspaper reported that the cause of one in three deaths in Direct Provision was unknown, following the release of statistics by the Reception & Integration Agency (RIA). 

RIA responded to an FOI request in 2017 on the number of asylum seekers who died in the system over the past 10 years, saying: 

“Forty four people have died in the direct provision system between 2007 and 2017, including three stillborn babies and one ‘neonatal death’.”

In fifteen of the cases RIA record the suspected cause of death as “unknown”, or simply “died”.

Among the causes of death listed as “unknown” was a 41-year-old man who was “found in room by roommate” in 2008 and a 53-year-old man who was “found dead in his bed at 9am”.

The names and nationalities were not included in the released information only the causes of death.

RIA, which falls under the Department of Justice & Equality, recorded the causes of death of 15 of those listed as unknown.

Capture

The article further pointed out the causes of death that were listed were not definitive but were recorded as “suspected cause of death”.

The issue of the department being unaware of the causes of death of residents within the direct provision system is one which has been raised before, with particular concerns around not being able to gather data on suicide and self harming. 

‘Indignity in death’

While RIA previously collected – and published – statistics on those who had died while living in Direct Provision, it no longer does, according to the justice department. 

A Freedom of Information request from TheJournal.ie in February asking for a list of the number of international protection applicants who had died since 2003 while living in Direct Provision centres was refused. 

At the time, the department stated that RIA had “no role” in gathering statistics on asylum seekers who died while living in Direct Provision and that it did not hold records of death. 

Death records, it said at the time, are held at the General Register Office. 

Figures for those who died in Direct Provision were, however, previously released by RIA (as mentioned above) and to Sinn Féin TD Micheál Colreavy, which were published by TheJournal.ie.

In a response to a Parliamentary Question in March, Minister Stanton again said RIA had “no official role” in the gathering statistics on asylum seekers who died while living in Direct Provision.

Ireland’s death records are held in the General Register Office, Stanton said at the time. 

Protection applicants access health services in the same way as Irish citizens and RIA has no role in the provision of these services, the Minister said. 

“The details of a protection applicant’s medical condition is a confidential matter between the patient and his or her medical practitioner.”

In most cases, according to Stanton, the deaths of residents occur in hospitals. 

“Where information may be provided to centre managers by residents or friends of the deceased, it indicates that the causes of deaths ranged from cancer, heart conditions, traffic accidents to suspected cot deaths.”

Such information is based on informal information and is not an official record of death, however. 

“Where a person dies while they are being provided with accommodation by RIA, RIA will work closely with the centre manager to assist the family in accessing the supports provided by the State, and to ensure that any residents affected by the death are assisted in accessing services that can support them.”

‘Regret’

A spokesperson for the justice department yesterday expressed regret to the friends of Ms. Tukula over the “unintended consequences” of her burial.

The department also said “it regrets the unintended obvious distress caused to Ms Tukula’s friends and colleagues upon hearing of her burial after the event”.

Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson Jim O’Callaghan has said Sylva’s burial “provides a very revealing account of the state’s attitude to people in Direct Provision” and said that “the State needs to recognise that people in Direct Provision are the same as Irish citizens in terms of their need for human interaction and support”.

Liam Thornton, a human rights lecturer at University College Dublin, has said that “given that direct provision offers no dignity for those subjected to this institution, it is not surprising that indignity would be imposed in death”.

Thornton echoed calls from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties this week which said that the justice department “is not the appropriate body to cater for shelter and food needs of persons seeking international protection in Ireland”. 

Established in 1999 in response to a sharp increase in the number of people seeking asylum in Ireland, Direct Provision has been repeatedly criticised by migrant rights groups due to the length of time people remain in centres while their asylum applications or appeals are processed, the conditions of centres and the psychological effects on those living in these centres. 

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39 Comments
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    Mute cosmological
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:37 PM

    What a nightmare for the kid, not to mention the family.

    478
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    Mute Angry Squirrel
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:45 PM

    Yep I would be suing the SXxT out of the lot of them if it was my daughter.

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    Mute dstaffx
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:50 PM

    Sue sue sue! Lets get money!
    There are better things in life than money.

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    Mute Gonzo Doyle
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:52 PM

    Strange the way Glen has stopped commenting on every single story since he is in line for comment of the week. He will have his Sunday best on at 11am tomorrow for the announcement.

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    Mute cosmological
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:59 PM

    Wot’s this Gonzo obsession with Glen, are you a secret admirer?

    159
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    Mute Conor Cullen
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:08 PM

    Yeah and when you have loads of money you can buy those things!

    41
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    Mute Lolo
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:13 PM

    Well the compensation money would come in handy for all the therapy the poor kid will probably need!

    135
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    Mute Amy gaffney
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:51 PM

    Maybe suing them would make them think twice before making such a monumental cock up again. That Garcia one had her own daughter taken away and then done the same thing to someone else and refuses to take responsibility for it. There’s a special kind of selfish nastiness in that.

    129
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    Mute ohaimhirghin
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:32 PM

    Eggs?

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    Mute Alan Wiley
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:39 PM

    It’s not often Mexicans have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the U.S.

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    Mute Living Abroad
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    Apr 24th 2015, 5:52 PM

    That supposed to be funny? idiot

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    Mute Barney r
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    Apr 25th 2015, 11:17 AM

    For the women smuggled into the sex trade and the hundreds that die crossing the border, thats hilarious

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    Mute John
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:46 PM

    Remember when that happened here in Ireland because some curtain twitcher thought that a Romanian child didn’t look enough like her parents. Just last year

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    Mute Patrick Murphy
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:04 PM

    And most of the commentators on the journal thought it was ok for the gardai to do it.

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:19 PM

    Once might have been forgivable, but twice?

    23
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    Mute Sinead
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:56 PM

    I really just don’t understand how this could happen? How could the woman who took her not see that the girl is not her daughter? And the the girl has a huge family all testifying who she is! Fairly dodgy carry on.

    152
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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:43 PM

    Why didn’t Dorotea Garcia ask the Mexican authorities to test a sample of Alondra’s DNA before the court hearing took place? How could she not have thought of the possibility that the girl was not her daughter?

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Apr 24th 2015, 6:02 PM

    She was probably desperate, but any right-thinking neutral would see this as the most appropriate way to approach the situation, even if the kid had to be taken into temporary foster care whilst awaiting results.

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    Mute Jane Sacrey
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:09 PM

    Holy cow .. They could have been sending her to her death or worse … I don’t understand in this day and age with so much at the courts disposal that they did not do the DNA test before shipping her off !!!!!!!

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    Mute John Ryan
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    Apr 24th 2015, 8:04 PM

    US law enforcement wave their big dick and the Mexicans bend over is how this works.

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    Mute ah_enda
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:47 PM

    Absolutely disgraceful…

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    Mute Thomas Maher
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:50 PM

    Mad ted

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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:04 PM

    Not the Momma!

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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    Apr 24th 2015, 10:26 PM
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    Mute Dennis Collins
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:25 PM

    The judge claims that she could not order a DNA test as it is not her job to investigate, rather just to judge. If she felt the evidence was insufficient, what would have been wrong with simply dismissing it until more satisfactory evidence was presented. A lot of questions need to be answered by this judge.

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    Apr 24th 2015, 3:22 PM

    Utterly disgraceful.

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    Mute Shane Russell
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:06 PM

    That is so messed up.

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    Mute Vicko Aguilar
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:40 PM

    It’s embarrassing to see this kind of stupidity! I claim all the children from Mexico are mind and the rotten judge say yes they r yours you can take them now. Poor parents! I can’t imagine the law in that country!!

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    Mute Vinny Wallace
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:51 PM

    Did no one have a bit of sense even at border control there was no real eveidence this woman was the mother of the child. Did no one say hang on a sec go get DNA evidence then you can come into the country.

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:17 PM

    The best interests of the child in action.

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    Mute Oisín Tarrant
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    Apr 24th 2015, 6:12 PM

    The father who really took Dorotea Garcias daughter has to have seen this happening.

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    Mute Ewan O'Doherty
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    Apr 26th 2015, 8:16 AM

    Even if Alondra Lunez’ family attempt to sue the authorities (which, in a still very corrupt Mexico, one wonders if ‘authorities’ is a misnomer) how far would they get? To do something like that to a terrified young girl, all I can say is that I am totally disgusted

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