Vol. 553 No. 5
341 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of an application in the name of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; if an interview has been arranged; and the timeframe involved for dealing with this application. [14376/02]
Under the Refugee Act, 1996, 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 will be made upon receipt of the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.
