The Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Refugee Council has said a balance of "ambition and pragmatism" is needed to accelerate efforts to wind down the direct provision system in the lifetime of this government.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Nick Henderson said that the Department of Housing's criticism of the recommendations of the Advisory Group on Direct Provision did not recognise the "nuance" in the proposals made by the group in seeking to find alternatives to house asylum seekers.
The Department of Housing says proposals in the advisory group's report will create a situation where families and individuals in direct provision will be competing for accommodation with homeless families and individuals.
Mr Henderson said that the Department of Housing opposed delegating the allocation of housing for asylum seekers to local authorities and raised concerns about too much reliance on the private sector.
He said the Department of Housing did not recognise the nuances in proposals put forward for new models of accommodation.
He said the advisory group recognised a variety of ways local authorities could do this and the role of a state building programme to house people waiting on asylum applications.
Mr Henderson said the programme for government commitment to end direct provision "is very clear" and should apply to each party in the coalition and also to each Government department and to senior civil servants.
He said that the Irish Refugee Council did not favour leaving the housing of asylum seekers "wholesale to local authorities" as they do not have a good record of delivering accommodation to vulnerable groups.
Likewise, he said that private rental accommodation offers an uneven quality of housing.
He said a "family hub" style accommodation would not be suitable as "the whole point is that we need somewhere for people to have a home while their application for asylum is being processed".
Mr Henderson stressed that Ireland has a 20-year history of a very dysfunctional system and "the onus is on the government and all of us to find a way out of the system soon... and get some momentum" behind doing so.
He said the system is creaking and has multiple problems.
