Vol. 531 No. 5
20 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on whether the Government has an international obligation under the Helsinki Accord to allow reunification of family members; and the arrangements in place to facilitate persons granted political asylum being reunited here with family members and permission being granted to such family members to reside here. [6182/01]
I am satisfied that my Department has in place arrangements which deal in a positive and humanitarian spirit with applications from persons who wish to be reunited with members of their family, as provided for in the Helsinki Final Act.
The procedures in respect of applications from family members of persons with refugee status in the State are set out in section 18 of the Refugee Act, 1996 as amended. Prior to the commencement of the Act in full by me on 20 November 2000 applications from persons with refugee status were processed by my Department on an administrative basis using section 18 as a guideline.
Section 18 provides that a person who has been recognised as a refugee can apply to the Minister for permission to enable a member of his or her family to enter and to reside in the State. The Minister is required to refer such an application to the refugee applications commissioner for the purposes of investigating the application and submitting a report thereon. This report sets out the relationship between the refugee and the person who is the subject of the application and also deals with the domestic circumstances of the person.
Subject to certain national security or public policy considerations, where on the basis of the report the Minister is satisfied that the person is a member of the family of the refugee such as a spouse or child, the Minister must grant permission to the person to enter and reside in the State. In this context the member of the family in question means the spouse of the refugee, the minor unmarried children of the refugee and, where the refugee is under the age of 18, his or her parents.
In addition, the Minister may, at his or her discretion, grant permission to other dependant members of the family of a refugee to enter and reside in the State.
