Vol. 493 No. 4
155 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum seekers who in the past four years have been convicted in the courts of any offence or have cases awaiting a hearing in the courts; the action, if any, taken on conviction; if an asylum application is automatically decided and if it is taken into consideration when a court decision is made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16498/98]
The Department does not maintain records in such a way as to give the figures requested by the Deputy. In general a Garda report of convictions of an asylum seeker is not taken into consideration when deciding on the applicant's claim for refugee status, unless the crime is of such a severe nature to warrant consideration of the cessation clauses of the UN Convention of 1951.
A conviction for a criminal offence would be a factor when the Minister was deciding on the granting of temporary leave to remain to an applicant who was refused refugee status.
