Vol. 519 No. 5
295 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position with regard to the asylum appeal of a Romanian national, details supplied, in County Wexford who is to be married in Ireland in August 2000 and whose assistance with translation services has been confirmed in writing by health board personnel and the local immigration officer dealing with refugees and asylum seekers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14349/00]
It is not the general practice to comment publicly on individual applications for refugee status having regard to the fact that applications by their nature are made in confidence with the expectation by the applicant that such confidence will be preserved.
However, the position in this instance is that the applicant was interviewed on 6 April 2000. His application was deemed to be manifestly unfounded and was accordingly refused on the grounds that he does not qualify as a refugee in accordance with the definition contained in the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees as amended by the 1967 protocol and as defined in section 2 of the Refugee Act, 1996. The applicant was informed of this decision on 11 May 2000.
The applicant appealed the decision to refuse him refugee status on 15 May 2000. In accordance with the "Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims in Ireland", as amended, notified to UNHCR and in operation since 10 December 1997, the appeal will be determined by an independent Appeals Authority. The Appeals Authority will make a determination based on the papers only. It is expected that this appeal will be considered shortly.
