Solidarity Action with Direct Provision Hunger Strikers [VIDEO]
Lasair Dhearg activists have carried out a solidarity action in support of the residents of the Skellig Star direct provision Centre in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, who in recent days commenced a hunger strike, rightfully demanding better conditions.
Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pól Torbóid said: “It is clear as day that the Direct Provision system in Ireland is deliberately designed to dehumanise and cause suffering. This is done to warn other refugees or asylum seekers not to come to Irish shores.”
“Direct Provision centres are run as prisons for profit. The 26 county state has paid out millions to private companies and staff, in order to enforce a brutal system of restriction, hunger and thirst, upon families that have come here for better lives and opportunities, often fleeing war and persecution.”
“Aramark is a company that operates and fully administers three of the Twenty Six County state-owned direct provision centers, with contracts amounting to millions. That means they run the food, the staff, manage oversight, and all day to day operations. The lower Aramark can drive down these costs, then the higher their profits; the more people they can cram in, the more money.”
Pól said that, “Because of this, businesses like Aramark are directly incentivised to produce grim results for those families having to live in these centers.”
“So Lasair Dhearg’s action at Aramark buildings in Belfast, is as much about highlighting the whole system of profit behind direct provision, across all of Ireland, as much as it is about showing support and solidarity to those suffering within the system itself.”
“We Must End Direct Provision!”
