Vol. 482 No. 4
100 Mr. Briscoe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6W will have his application to his Department processed; and if he will have examinations made into the current delay. [18279/97]
The person to whom the Deputy refers entered the State in September 1996 and subsequently made an application to my Department to be recognised as a refugee under the terms of the UN convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees.
Due to the large increase in applications and the resource constraints this imposed on both my Department and on the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in London, it has not been possible to process applications as speedily as desirable. The applicant concerned is but one of the many people whose applications await processing at this time.
On my appointment as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform I commenced a review of arrangements for processing applications for refugee status. Within a few weeks I was satisfied that resources both in terms of staff numbers and basic facilities were inadequate to deal with the number of applications being lodged. Accordingly, I sought and obtained Government approval for additional staff to be appointed to my Department and for new premises to be obtained.
In these circumstances, I would hope to have all persons who lodged applications in 1996, interviewed before the end of 1997 or early 1998 and their cases decided on shortly thereafter.
