Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 6 Oct 1999

Vol. 508 No. 4

Written Answers. - Asylum Applications.

Ivor Callely

Question:

221 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of refugee applications made for each of the years from 1991 to 1998 and to date in 1999; the number of refugee applications processed; the decisions of these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19310/99]

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

The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the tabular statement below. Information for the year 1991 is not readily available. The footnotes in respect of the information at table 2 are self-explanatory.

Table 1

Asylum Seekers 1992-1999

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999(30/9)
Number of applications	39	91	362	424	1,179	3,883	4,626	4,446
Number of applications withdrawn before decision	3	52	222	220	550	1,358	768	165
Number of withdrawn applications re-submitted to the asylum process	0	0	0	0	10	52	26	6
Number of applications transferred out under Dublin Convention	0	0	0	0	0	15	15	0
First Stage
Number recognised as refugees	7	9	34	90	171	118	67	2
Number refused	29	30	106	113	430	1,431	1,468	114
Number deemed abandoned					28	666	759	23
of which returned to first stage determination process							9
Number found to be manifestly unfounded				1	11	65	89	9
ofwhich–returned to first stage determination process following appeal of manifestly unfounded decision					3	5	4
ofwhich–granted temporary leave to remain	7	5	66	21	36	0	0
Number of first instance applications outstanding	0	0	0	0	2	287	1,499	4,139
Appeal Stage
Number of substantive cases appealed	6	21	21	74	361	1,209	941	48
Number of man/unfounded cases appealed				1	4	25	35	2
Total appealed	6	21	21	75	365	1,234	976	50
Number of cases withdrawn before appeal	2	3	6	9	23	83	67	3
Number of cases granted refugee status following appeal	1	1	1	9	84	163	70
Number returned to first stage determination process					3	5	4
Number of substantive cases refused following appeal	3	17	14	53	210	279	121
Number of man/unfounded refused following appeal				1	1	13	8
Granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(2)	(14)	(5)	(7)	(8)	(5)	0
Number of appeal cases outstanding	0	0	0	3	44	691	706	47
of which manifestly unfounded						(6)	(19)	(2)
Total number of cases on hand	0	0	0	3	46	978	2,205	4,186
Grand total	7,418

It should be noted that all above figures relating to decisions, withdrawals, appeals etc., refer to the year in which the application was lodged and not to the year in which the decision, withdrawal, appeal etc. was made.

Table 2

Decisions taken in (a)

	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999(30/9)
Granted refugee status at first stage	4	15	36	209	128	115
Granted refugee status at appeal stage	0	0	0	4	40	285
Refused status at first stage of following the appeal	27	43	32	304	1,202	3,746
of which
–granted temporary leave to remain at first instance (b)	(5)	(8)	(6)	(120)	0	0
–were found to be manifestly unfounded (c)	0	0	0	0	(104)	(71)
–were deemed abandoned (d)					(2)	(1,474)
–returned to first stage determination process following appeal of manifestly unfounded decision					(12)
Total	31	58	68	517	1,370	4,146

(a)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.

(b)The practice of granting temporary leave to remain at the first instance ceased with effect from December 1997 following the introduction of revised procedures for processing claims as notified to the UNHCR. The granting of temporary leave to remain is considered by the Minister after the asylum process.

(c)The grounds on which it may be determined that an application for asylum is manifestly unfounded were introduced in December 1997.

(d)In addition a total of 452 cases were withdrawn in 1998 prior to the implementation of the procedures for deeming cases abandoned. These cases are reflected in the statistics in table 1 in the category "applications withdrawn before decision".