Applications for refugee status in the State are currently dealt with in accordance with the terms of an arrangement entered into with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — UNHCR — in December 1985. This arrangement provides that (a) applications for refugee status may be made to an immigration officer on arrival in the State or directly to my Department if the individual is already in the State; (b) immigration officers have been provided with written guidelines indicating, inter alia, that a person should not be returned to a country where his personal safety might be seriously threatened as a result of the political situation prevailing there; (c) asylum seekers will not be refused entry or removed from the State until given an opportunity to present a case fully; (d) every application will be examined in accordance with the UN Convention and Protocol; (e) every facility, including interpreters where possible, will be provided to help an applicant in making a case; (f) the need for confidentiality and privacy is given high priority; (g) an applicant is informed that he may contact UNHCR or a local representative; (h) each applicant is given a personal interview; (i) nothing will prevent humanitarian considerations being considered which might justify permission to remain in the State; (j) the UNHCR may be consulted on each application, and will consult when a negative decision is proposed — they are consulted on all applications.
This formal procedural arrangement with the UNHCR has been found by the courts to be legally binding. Since November 1993 an appeals mechanism has been in place.
The Refugee Act, 1996, will be implemented as soon as all the necessary implementing regulations are in place, the requisite staff for the new determination bodies are recruited and trained and appointments as Refugee Applications Commissioner and members of the Refugee Appeal Board are made. While work is ongoing on all these issues in my Department at present, I do not envisage that the new system will be in operation before April 1997.