Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 20 Oct 1998

Vol. 495 No. 4

Written Answers. - Asylum Applications.

Ivor Callely

Question:

64 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of applications in his Department for consideration of refugee status; the processing time for these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19949/98]

Ivor Callely

Question:

306 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total number of asylum seekers applications approved for refugee status; the number withdrawn or refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19992/98]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 306 together.

The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular statement.

It is difficult to assess the actual average time from start to finish of the asylum determination process. However, it is my hope that with the additional staff recruited to my Department's asylum division, new cases will be finalised in a matter of months.

Asylum seekers 1992—8

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998 (30/9)
No. of applications	39	91	362	424	1,179	3,883	3,784
No. of applications withdrawn before decision	3	52	222	219	546	1,159	236
No. of applications transferred under Dublin convention	0	0	0	0	0	14	7

First Stage

No. recognised as refugees at firststage of determination	7	9	34	90	160	29	7
No. refused at first stage of determination	29	30	106	112	288	327	200
found to be manifestly unfounded	0	0	0	1	11	35	28
of which — returned to first stage determination process following appeal of manifestly unfounded decision					3	2
of which — granted temporary leave to remain	(7)	(5)	(66)	(21)	(36)	(0)	(0)
No. of first instance applications outstanding	NIL	NIL	NIL	2	177	2,321	3,306

Appeal Stage

No. of cases appealed	6	21	21	68	205	181	137
No. of Man/unfounded				1	4	16	4
Totally appealed	6	21	21	69	209	197	141
No. of cases withdrawn before appeal	2	3	6	7	9	4	5
No. of cases granted refugee status following appeal—	1	1	1	4	8	0	0
No. returned to first stage determination process					3	2
No. of cases refused following appeal—	3	16	14	42	80	0	0
No. of cases upheld as manifestly unfoundeda				(1)	(1)	(5)
of which — granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(2)	(11)	(1)	(1)	(1)	(0)	(0)
No. of appeal cases outstanding —	0	1	0	15	108	186	136
of which manifestly unfounded				(1)	(4)	(16)	(4)
Total No. of cases on hands	0	1	0	17	285	2,507	3,442

Decisions taken in *

	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998 (30/9)
Granted refugee status at first stage	4	15	36	209	81
Granted refugee status at appeal stage	0	0	0	4	11
Refused status of which —	27	43	32	304	756
granted temporary leave to remain at first instance	(5)	(8)	(6)	(120)	(0)
of which — were found to be manifestly unfounded	(0)	(0)	(0)	(0)	(75)
of which — returned to first stage determination process following appeal of manifestly unfounded decision					(5)
granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(0)	(0)	(0)	(0)	(21)
Total	31	58	68	517	848

*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.