People in Direct Provision are not getting any extra help to address the rising cost-of-living according to the Vincentian Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) Centre.
MESL researchers at St Vincent de Paul looked at the minimum essential standard of living for children and families in the international protection system in Ireland.
Current income supports for those living in Direct Provision is €38.80 per week for adults and €29.80 for a child.
Direct Provision residents get food and other products for personal use from shops in the Direct Provision centres through a cashless points' systems.
However, a webinar organised by the Children's Rights Alliance heard that the points have not increased in line with the rising cost of items in the shops.
The research showed that while the introduction of a child benefit type payment would increase the standard of living for both family types, it would still fall short of their MESL.
The St Vincent de Paul researchers said the estimated weekly minimum essential standard of living for a two parent, two children family in Direct Provision was €289.98.
Two young adults living in the Direct Provision system spoke about how the cost of living is affecting them and their peers.
Princess, who is 18 years old, is studying social work.
She came to Ireland as an unaccompanied minor.
She expressed gratitude for the €38 weekly payment, however, she said it was not enough considering how expensive it is to live in Ireland and to afford mobile data, transport, clothes and toiletries.
To save money she walks to college every day to avoid paying for public transport and often skips lunch.
19-year-old Marwa Zamir said one person she talked to in the Direct Provision system told her that he had to cancel a planned visit to the dentist despite having a toothache because he didn't have enough money to cover transport costs.
Beth Kinyua, an advocate and parent, with lived experience of the direct provision system, asked people to imagine a mother who is pregnant in the system.
Expectant mothers are given €100 for six months for maternity wear.
Ms Kinyua asked people to think about how a woman's body changes so dramatically during pregnancy and the need for clothes during that time.
€150 is provided for the first six months of a baby's life, however, she said that it must be supplemented through the €38 weekly payment.
Supplementing the mother’s diet through the weekly payment is also a struggle, she said.
In her own situation a community health nurse said she required supplements, "however, Social Welfare said they didn’t have a provision for that," she explained.
'Tremendous hardship'
The Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, Tanya Ward, said further research is required on the adequacy of payments around child support for those in Direct Provision.
"Next month, every child in the country on child benefit will get an extra child benefit payment to help their parents with the cost-of-living. But children in Direct Provision won't get that payment," Ms Ward said.
She said it is "causing tremendous hardship for younger children".
She said the current payment of €29.80 a week does not go as far in Ireland as it does in other European countries.
"The time has come to do the right thing. We can't have a small group of children who've been left out in the cold when the overall Government strategy and policy is to reduce the numbers of children living in poverty," she added.
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She pointed out the "significant disparity" in payments for children under 12 years of age and those over it.
She said recent research into the cost of raising a family suggests that people in Direct Provision who have a child over the age of 12-years-old are short about €50 which she believes is "a conservative estimate".
"And if you're a child under 12, you're probably short about €18 a week, so it's pretty clear there's a real need to increase the weekly payments for children in the Direct Provision system," she added.
Given that the White Paper to end Direct Provision was published prior to the war in Ukraine, Ms Ward acknowledged that what it envisioned would be difficult to achieve in the short term.
Highlighting the shortage of accommodation available, Tanya Ward called for a "whole of Government approach" on the issue.
She said it shouldn't be left to one Department (Children, Equality, Integration, Disability and Youth) to carry the burden.
