I welcome the Minister to the House. The Department and Minister for Justice need to ensure that proper procedures in accord with international human rights and natural justice are put in place so that those seeking asylum in Ireland are humanely treated and their cases fairly considered.
I consider that existing procedures are totally inadequate to deal with those seeking asylum or refuge here from other countries. It is ironic that daily on television we see evidence of concern and generosity towards Somalia and Bosnia where people are enduring famine, strife and persecution. Help is forthcoming for people on their own soil but when attempts are made to flee famine or persecution and seek refugee status on Irish soil we treat refugees with hostility and suspicion. We are prepared to be humane and Christian as long as the problem remains abroad but God help them if they step on Irish soil. Our humanity and Christianity then goes out the door.
This motion is intended to ensure that the relatively small number of people who seek asylum in Ireland are given a fair and humane hearing and that they are not treated peremptorily. Independent and impartial procedures are necessary. In Ireland at present refugee matters are usually dealt with by emigration officers at the point of entry. These people have no special training or expertise in international refugee law nor knowledge of circumstances in the refugee's country of origin. They have no obligation to inform a refugee of their entitlements, whether to legal advice or to contact the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Decisions are generally made by the Department of Justice on the basis of a flimsy and limited interview and investigation conducted by the emigration officers. If there is a review of the application or an appeal it is done through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, not on the basis of direct information from the refugee but on a phone call to London, on the basis of notes or on a past interview. It is not a full, thorough and comprehensive investigation; the necessary information is not made available.
The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relate to the status of refugees and defines it clearly:
A refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.
We must incorporate that understanding into our legislative process and follow it with procedures to ensure that the letter and the spirit of that Protocol and convention are implemented. We need a proper impartial independent body with the necessary professional people; expertise to collect all appropriate information concerning the country from which the person has come; to know the law relating to refugee status; to be in a position to contact and liaise with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and to be able to conduct a proper prima facie interview and, later, an in depth interview with the person seeking asylum. The right to appeal must be clearly outlined with clear procedures for appeal and the person in question must be clearly informed of that right.
The procedures should be properly observed, not by means of telephone or peremptory notes but in a formal written form. At present people requesting asylum here are detained in prison cells and in Garda stations. Garda stations in this city have cells specifically designated for the detention of aliens where they may spend considerable lengths of time. We know they have spent time in prisons such as Limerick, normally, Cork, occasionally and particularly Mountjoy for six, seven or eight months without either being released or having their case dealt with. We must ensure that that situation comes to an end.
To give an idea of the increasing numbers of people looking for asylum in this country, in 1986 the figure was 19, in 1992 the figure was 31, but in 1990 it was 62. I am not sure of the reason for the variations here. In 1986 four requests for asylum were recognised. In 1991 one was granted, so we have a very low recognition rate principally because of the inadequate and peremptory nature of our investigative procedures.
I ask the Minister to look at the 1951 Convention and at the 1967 Protocol and to draft legislation in accordance with those provisions to clearly define the status of refugee; to establish a procedure which would incorporate an independent body with authority and expertise to examine each case; to faciliate liaision with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in London, and to include an appeals mechanism so that people fleeing persecution, imprisonment or possible execution abroad will not be received with hostility here or put on the next plane or the next boat home. That is the effect of present procedures.
