Vol. 491 No. 6
251 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons seeking refugee status in Ireland; the number from Bosnia and Romania; the number of refugees arrested for illegal entry; the number charged with illegal entry; and where those charged with illegal entry are being held. [13015/98]
The number of applications for refugee status outstanding on 29 May 1998 was 5,759.
As regards the countries of origin of the persons concerned, it has been the general policy of successive Ministers not to disclose information on the nationality of asylum seekers or refugees. This is due to the general and understandable desire on the part of individual applicants to ensure that an application for recognition as a refugee is processed in confidence. As the number of applicants of some nationalities is small, it would be relatively easy in some instances to identify particular individuals if nationality statistics were provided. Such identification could have serious implications particularly if members of an applicant's family are still in the country of origin. However, where there is a significant number of applications from certain countries of origin I am prepared to list those nationalities. The main countries of origin of asylum seekers this past year are Algeria, Nigeria, Romania, Somalia and Zaire. I can also confirm that a small number of asylum seekers are from Bosnia. Persons recognised as refugees would normally travel on documents issued by the state which recognised them as refugees under the terms of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the status of refugees as amended by the 1967 New York Protocol and would be subject to immigration controls in the normal way. No separate records are kept of illegal entry by persons recognised as refugees.
