I thank you for permission to raise this case and I thank the Minister of State for coming here to listen to my plea. On 17 March 1983 a Palestinian refugee was arrested by the Jordanian security police and charged with offences alleging membership of an outlawed political party, namely the Islamic Liberation Party. He faced a possible ten years in prison. He was released on terms before trial and fled to this country. He has remained here ever since his arrival on 3 March 1984. His status as a Palestinian refugee was registered with the United Nations at Amman in Jordan on 18 November 1967. His passport from that country has not been renewed and he is without means of travel abroad. He is, in fact, stateless.
Over the past seven years while in Ireland he has been without work or support by the Department of Social Welfare. He has been unable to obtain a work visa because his status within the country has not been settled. He is being maintained in very poor circumstances by his family who periodically, send him money for support.
On his arrival here he applied for residency, citizenship, political asylum or whatever the Department would be prepared to facilitate him with. Needless to say, he was unfamiliar with the rules, regulations and laws of this country and sought what guidance was available to him from the Department and other agencies.
The party of which he was a member in Jordan was basically a populist antiroyalist party and because it was antiroyalist it was not tolerated in Jordan. In his application for political asylum he has been supported by the Irish Red Cross Society and has had his case investigated by the United Nations High Commission in London. I understand they have reported to the Department that his case is sustainable and that he should be supported in his application for consideration here.
Throughout this time he has continued to report as required to the aliens section of the Department of Justice. All his inquiries to date have led to a blank wall at the Department and he remains in effect stranded, stateless and without the opportunity to work or to seek it. His position has become more hapless, if that is possible, because recently he has been advised that his elderly father is seriously ill. He needs to travel to see him at home before he passes on but he cannot leave here because if he does he faces the risk of persecution if he returns to Jordan without Irish citizenship and the support and protection of the Irish State. Equally if he travels without documents and without assurances he has no prospect of returning.
Aliens here are never very high on any political agenda or manifesto. Our own illegals abroad have received huge Government attention and this is as it should be. We need to give attention to those unfortunates who come to Ireland of the welcomes as a resort. The Department must become more open and deal more compassionately with the needs of aliens who come here out of desperation. In particular, the position of this man must be addressed without further delay. It is inexcusable and unforgiveable that a person who makes a reasonable, sustained and supportable request must wait seven years for a reply from a Department.
All this I put to the new Minister of State at the Department of Justice in correspondence on 18 February last. I understand my correspondence and his representations have failed to resolve the difficulty and it is in those circumstances that I have come to the House to raise this case. I hope that doing so will lead to some respite being offered, some hope being tendered and some favour being given to this unfortunate gentleman who does not have a home to return to and who now wants to take out Irish citizenship and to take up residency here. He has spent seven long and lonely years here and he is happy with residency. He needs a favourable response from the Minister.
