John McGuinness
Question:342 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of an application for refugee status by persons (details supplied) in County Carlow. [15753/01]
Written Answers. - Refugee Status.
The persons in question have made an application for permission to remain in the State based on their parentage of an Irish born child. These cases are dealt with in chronological order and I expect this particular application to be finalised shortly.
John McGuinness
Question:343 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of an application for refugee status by a person (details supplied) in County Waterford. [15754/01]
The Refugee Act, 1996, as amended by the Immigration Act, 1999, and the Illegal Immigrants Trafficking Act, 2000, was commenced in full on 20 November 2000. Under the Act, two independent statutory offices were established to consider applications-appeals for refugee status and to make recommendations to the Minister on whether such status should be granted.
These two offices are the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, which considers applications for a declaration as a refugee at first instance, and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal which considers applications for a declaration at appeal stage.
A decision on the application in question will be made upon receipt of the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal as appropriate.