The agency responsible for running direct provision centres has been criticised for failing to tender for improved accommodation for asylum seekers in line with a recent report.
In June a Government-appointed working group on the asylum and protection process recommended that tenders for new accommodation should specify the need for self-contained units for families, cooking facilities and adequate recreational space for children and young people.
However an advert posted by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) in July failed to include any of the recommended specifications.
Instead it sought expressions of interest from those interested in providing accommodation such as "hotels, hostels, guesthouses etc."
CEO of the Children's Alliance and member of the Working Group, Tanya Ward described it as a "lost opportunity."
"We understood that the recommendations that we debated and negotiated would actually be acted upon once the Working Group Report was published." Ms Ward said.
Many of the current direct provision centres were previously hotels or hostels.
The Working Group's June report criticised the current stock of accommodation being used for direct provision centres saying that "in addition to concerns around cramped physical conditions, the multipurpose, multi occupancy nature of the accommodation...raises concerns around privacy, mental health, family life and child protection.
Stephen Ng'ang'a, who lives in direct provision and was a member of the Working Group, said the asylum seekers who had participated in the working group had placed a lot of trust in the Government and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to implement the report's recommendations.
"I believe the Reception and Integration Agency is waiting for the minister, who I think is their boss, to give them the go ahead to implement the recommendation." Mr Ng'ang'a said.
"Many people have been living in direct provision for more than five years. People now are silently waiting and they have invested a lot of trust in the Government, and its time for the Government to do their bit. "
However the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, with special responsibility for Equality, New Communities and Culture, said it was not "business as usual."
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that direct provision was a "crucial issue that the Government has committed to changing."
