Over the past few months, there have been increasing protests about the toxic living conditions of Direct Provision. Ireland has been under growing pressure from the UN to enact reform in the asylum-seeking arena, or - better still, one may think - to totally abolish Direct Provision in favour of something which affords more human rights.
Direct Provision centres do not provide dignity for those trapped inside with issues including; income poverty, vulnerable youths, harassment, a toxic environment for both families and single people, susceptibility to physical and mental illness, homophobia because of culture clashes, terrible food... It is perhaps worth noting that the infamously non-nutritious foods of Direct Provision come from the same corporation - Aramark - responsible for prison food in America. (Closer to home, Aramark own the franchise Chopped, as well as Avoca). These woeful conditions are brought into greater light by the more humane approach taken by Northern Irish courts. In 2012, in relation to a Sudanese woman and her three children, it was agreed that it would be better for them to remain in the North, as there was “ample evidence” that the Republic’s asylum system was a hotbed for physical and mental health issues.
But what of the LGBT+ young people who come over with their parents and spend their youths in the legal uncertainty of Direct Provision? Such individuals have a unique perspective on the process of adaptation and adversity, as suggested by Ayo, 23, an LGBT+ young woman from Cameroon. She and her parents came to Ireland at a time when the limbo of Direct Provision went unchallenged for even longer waiting periods than current ones, as Ayo explained.