Written Answers. - Immigration Policy.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
Question:
360
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
if, during the period January 2000 to June 2001, per month he will state the number of people who have been refused entry to the State; the air and sea ports at which such refusal was made; the nationalities of the persons; the number of removals there has been on grounds of refusal of entry to the State; from which air and sea ports these occurred; to which countries were such persons removed; the number of men and women who have been held prior to removal from the State on grounds of refusal of entry; in which places of detention were they held prior to removal from the State on grounds of refusal of entry; the number of men and women who have been held on grounds of a deportation order made on the basis of rejection of a claim to asylum; in which places of detention were they held prior to removal from the State on grounds of a deportation order made on the basis of rejection of a claim to asylum; the number of minors who have been refused entry to the State; where they have been accommodated; the number of minors who have been removed on grounds of refusal of access to the State; the number of minors who have been held in detention prior to them making an asylum application; the periods of such detention; and the place such detention occurred.
[18588/01]
Records are not held by my Department or by the Garda authorities in such a manner as would enable me to respond to the Deputy's question in the detail requested without examining and collating a very large number of individual files, which would have disproportionate resource implications. The grounds upon which an immigration officer may refuse leave to land to a person arriving in the State are set out in article 5(2) of the Aliens Order, 1946, as amended.
The number of persons refused entry in the year 2000 was 5,852. Some 1,373 persons had been refused entry up to 31 May in 2001. A breakdown of these figures according to the stated nationality of the persons or according to port of entry is not available. Included in the 2000 figure are 3,287 persons who claimed asylum upon arrival, were technically refused leave to land, but were admitted to pursue their applications. Since the commencement in November 2000 of the Refugee Act, 1996, persons who claim asylum upon arrival are not refused leave to land, even as a technicality, but are granted leave to enter to pursue their applications.
Article 7 of the Aliens Order, 1946, as amended, provides that a person to whom leave to land has been refused shall be removed from the State by the carrier with whom he or she arrived and returned to the country of which he or she is a national or from which he or she embarked for the State. A breakdown of returns according to destination could not be obtained without examining each of the 3,938 individual records in question. With the exception of the persons referred to above who claimed asylum and were therefore admitted to the State, a person who has been refused entry is invariably returned.
In the case of many persons refused entry, it is possible to make arrangements for return on the same day. Where this is not possible, article 5(4) of the Aliens Order provides that a person to whom leave to land has been refused may be detained by an immigration officer in one of a number of places specified in a schedule to the order until such time – being as soon as practicable – as he or she is removed from the State. Detention is usually for a very short period only, typically overnight. As above, it would not be possible to indicate what proportion of the total number of persons refused were detained or where, without an examination by the Garda authorities of each individual case record. The places of detention specified in the order include a number of Garda stations and prisons.
The arrangements governing the removal of persons on foot of a deportation order differ from those relating to refusal of leave to land upon arrival and are set out in the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended. This Act also makes particular provisions in respect of the detention of persons who are the subject of deportation orders. Failure to present oneself at a particular time and place for the purpose of giving effect to a deportation order renders a person liable to arrest and detention under the provisions of section 5 of the Act.
The Immigration Act, 1999 (Deportation) Regulations, 1999, specify the places of detention for the purpose of the Act and these are: Garda stations, Mountjoy Prison and the Training Unit, Glengariff Parade. In most instances, persons arrested under these provisions are detained in the Training Unit.
Since removals under the Act commenced in November 1999, a total of 339 persons have been deported up to 22 June 2001, the majority of whom would have been in the asylum process. It would be possible to ascertain what proportion of these persons were detained and in which place of detention only through an examination of each of the case files held in both my Department and the Garda National Immigration Bureau.
Records are not available in respect of the age of persons refused admission to the State. Under subsection (5)(a) of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended, where it appears to an immigration officer that a child under the age of 18 years, who has either arrived at the frontiers of the State or has entered the State, is not in the custody of any person – that is, is an unaccompanied minor – the officer shall as soon as practicable so inform the health board in whose functional area the child is and thereupon the provisions of the Child Care Act, 1991, shall apply in relation to the child. The Act also provides that, where it appears to the health board concerned that an application for asylum should be made by or on behalf of such a child, the health board shall arrange for the appointment of an officer of the health board or such other persons as it may determine to make an application on behalf of the child.
In cases where a family group has been refused entry and that a group includes minors, special arrangements will be made on a case by case basis for the overnight accommodation of the minors if required.
