The Direct Provision system is the means through which the State provides accommodation, food and personal expenses to asylum seekers while their applications for asylum status are being processed.

According to the Report of Working Group to Report to the Government on Improvements to the Protection Process, including Direct Provision and Supports to Asylum Seekers.

Children and young people had not been directly consulted as part of The Report, although 31 children and young people had provided written submissions. Subsequently, a Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) representative who was a member of that Working Group recommended that the voices of children living in direct provision should be further explored separate from any recommendations in the Working Group report.

Following internal Departmental discussions between the DCYA Citizen Participation Unit and the Reception and Integration Agency of the Department of Justice and Equality, it was decided to undertake a consultation with children and young people living in Direct Provision. This report presents the findings from that consultation process. The aim of the consultations was to hear the views of children and young people living in Direct Provision Centres to find out what they like, dislike and would like to change or improve about the places they live.