Vol. 436 No. 3
14 Mr. Molloy asked the Minister for Justice the measures, if any, that have been taken to prepare legislation in relation to the discriminatory treatment in some respects of non-nationals, including refugees and asylum seekers, as pointed out by the UN Committee of Human Rights recently.
20 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice the measures, if any, that have been taken to prepare legislation in relation to the discriminatory treatment in some respects of non-nationals including refugees and asylum seekers as pointed out by the UN Committee of Human Rights recently.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 20 together. The House will be aware that the partnership programme for Government includes a commitment that policy towards the treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and non-nationals will meet the highest international standards and that procedures will be introduced to guarantee rights of hearing, appeals, access to legal advice and access to the courts.
I have appointed an interdepartmental committee comprising representatives of the Departments of Justice, Enterprise and Employment and Foreign Affairs to examine policy and practices with regard to non-Irish persons who are resident in the State and in the area of persons who apply for refugee status. The terms of reference of the committee are extensive but, due to the Government's particular concern that our procedures and practices in relation to applications for refugee status and refugees should be reformed, the committee decided to prepare an interim report as a matter of urgency dealing specifically with that area. I expect to have this report very shortly.
However, as I am determined to introduce legislative proposals as soon as possible and, to avoid any delay, I instructed my Department to commence work on a Bill parallel to the work of the committee. A draft general scheme of a Bill has now been prepared but no final decision as to the contents of the proposed legislation will be made by the Government until I have studied the report of the committee in detail. I am confident, nevertheless, that the general scheme of a Bill can be finalised quickly and published before Christmas.
I am glad to hear that at least in this area we are bringing our domestic law into line with our international commitments, as this is only one of the areas for which we were slapped on the wrist recently by the UN Committee on Human Rights. Will the Minister indicate when she will be in a position to bring legislation before the House on this matter?
I will publish a Bill before Christmas and it will be taken in the next session.
Will the Minister publish and make available to Deputies the inter-departmental committee reports that are being prepared? Second, can she tell the House the date on which retired Judge O'Malley was appointed on an informal basis to hear appeals against a decision to refuse asylum and whether any such appeals have been heard or determined?
Judge O'Malley was appointed some time ago; I do not have the exact date but I will communicate it to the Deputy. I understand that the judge may have adjudicated on a number of cases but, again, I do not have the number and will have to communicate that information to the Deputy, too. I will have no difficulty in publishing the report of the interdepartmental committee.
In the interests of openness, will the Minister make available the published decisions of retired Judge O'Malley so that Deputies and people outside the House will have some indication of the manner in which these cases are determined and the principles that apply? I put it to the Minister that such a procedure is necessary if we are to comply properly with the United Nations Convention.
Since I became Minister for Justice I have been anxious to ensure that the Immigration and Nationality Division of the Department, formerly known as the Aliens Division, becomes more user friendly. From my own observations and from what other Members of the House have said to me it appears that people are concerned that this division is not perceived as user friendly. However, people have to appreciate that the officials in that division have a heavy workload to cope with and a difficult job to do. A number of measures have been taken within the Department and the division to make it more user friendly. In addition, a number of other measures will be taken between now and the end of the first quarter of next year. In making the Department more user friendly the appointment of retired Judge O'Malley was important. While I have not had an opportunity to study the interim report of the interdepartmental committee in detail, one of its recommendations is that people be told the reason for their applications being refused and that an appeals procedure be put in place so that we would have some indication of which decisions made by the Minister might be overturned. I am very much in favour of such procedure as it should lead to greater openness.
On the question of whether people should be told the reason they were refused, as Deputy Shatter may be aware, there may be certain instances, in relation to security matters, where it may not be appropriate to provide such information. Indeed, it might not be helpful to the individual concerned to do so. Making the division more user friendly as well as publishing the Bill should lead to greater openness. The officials of that division have been looking for that for quite some time.
That disposes of questions for today.
On a point of order, the Minister was not in a position to answer fully Question No. 1 because she felt my information, as contained in the Evening Press, may have been more up-to-date than the information available to her. I have indicated that I intend to submit a private notice question next week and I hope it will be accepted given that the Minister was not in a position to answer fully and adequately my priority question today.
In response to Question No. 1, I indicated that the information available to me was supplied by the Garda authorities. I made inquiries as to why this information was different from the information published in one of the newspapers this evening. I hope that a response from the Garda authorities awaits me in my Department. I will communicate with Deputy Mitchell in the matter. I fully support him in his request to be allowed table a private notice question on the matter.
