Vol. 486 No. 6
273 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps, if any, he has taken to assuage fears amongst asylum seekers that they will be deported without an examination of their application for asylum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3209/98]
The new procedures for processing applications for refugee status clearly state that a person will not be removed from the State, until either it is determined that the individual is not in fact seeking asylum in the State; or a final decision has been made under the Dublin Convention (Implementation) Order that the application should be dealt with in another EU country; or it is decided that the application is manifestly unfounded; or the application has been deemed to be abandoned; or the application has been examined substantively in the State and a final decision reached on it.
These new procedures have received wide publicity and groups such as Amnesty, the Irish Refugee Council and the Association of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Ireland were issued with details of the new procedures. Individual asylum seekers are advised of the situation in their dealings with my Department.
