Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 14 May 1998

Vol. 491 No. 2

Written Answers. - Asylum Applications.

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

The records in my Department in relation to asylum matters are not maintained in such a way as to enable the information sought by the Deputy to be extracted without the diversion of a disproportionate amount of staff resources which at this time would not be warranted. However, a breakdown of the number of asylum seekers from 1992 to 8 May 1998 is set out in the following tabular statements.

Asylum Seekers 1992-1998

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998 (08/5)
Number of applications	39	91	362	424	1,179	3,883	1,884
Number of applications withdrawn before decision	3	52	222	219	389	753	15
First Stage
Number recognised as refugees at first stage of determination	7	9	34	90	128	4	0
Number refused at first stage of determination	29	30	106	106	155	11	1
of which-
granted temporary leave to remain	(7)	(5)	(66)	(21)	(36)	(0)	(0)
Number of first instance applications outstanding	Nil	Nil	Nil	9	507	3,115	1,868
Appeal Stage
Number of cases appealed	6	21	21	59	106	6	0
Number of cases withdrawn before appeal	2	3	3	3	1	1	0
Number of cases granted refugee status following appeal	0	1	1	4	3	0	0
Number of cases refused following appeal	2	16	14	32	22	0	0
of which-
granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(2)	(11)	(1)	(1)	(1)	(0)	(0)
Number of appeal cases outstanding	2	1	3	20	80	5	0
Total number of cases on hands	2	1	3	29	587	3,120	1,860
							5,610

	Decisions taken in*
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998 (30/4)
Granted refugee status at first stage	4	15	36	209	16
Granted refugee status at appeal stage	0	0	0	4	4
Refused status	27	43	32	304	27
of which-
granted temporary leave to remain at first instance	(5)	(8)	(6)	(120)	(0)
granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(0)	(0)	(0)	(0)	(16)
Total	31	57	65	516	46

*It should be noted that these decisions refer to the year in which the decisions were taken and NOT to the year in which the applications were lodged.

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

The following tabular statement shows the number of people granted humanitarian-temporary leave to remain in the State following a determination of their asylum application. The figures refer to the year in which the decisions were taken and not the year in which the applications were lodged.

Year	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998 up to 30/4
Number granted humanitarian leave to remain	5	8	6	120	13

Records relating to the years 1992 and 1993 regarding the number of people granted humanitarian-temporary leave to remain in the State are not maintained in such a way as to enable the information sought by the Deputy to be easily extracted.