The Social Democrats said it would not be fair to comment on the asylum claim of its local election candidate Ellie Kisyombe, after a Sunday newspaper alleged that she had given inaccurate information about her background in the application. Ms Kisyombe, who on Sunday refused to comment on the article, is originally from Malawi and has spoken of her experience of living in the direct provision system for much of the last decade. In a recent interview with The Irish Times, Ms Kisyombe said direct provision “is a system that controls you in every sense of human life. “I think the Minister for Justice has an obligation to protect asylum seekers; clearly something has broken down there,” said Mr Gannon, who has supported Ms Kisyombe in her local election campaign. “For reasons of confidentiality, the department cannot comment in relation to individual immigration or international-protection-related cases,” he said.

Source: The Irish Times February 17, 2019 20:37 UTC