I propose taking Questions Nos. 733 and 736 together.
It is not the practice to comment on individual applications for asylum. As the Deputy will be aware, under the Refugee Act 1996, two independent statutory offices were established to consider applications and appeals for refugee status and to make recommendations to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform 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 final decision will be made in this case upon receipt of the decision of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. The consideration of an appeal by the tribunal involves four stages: the assignment of the appeal to a member of the tribunal; the scheduling of a hearing; the completion of the decision by the member and the issuing of the decision to the applicant and his or her solicitor.
The scheduling of a hearing is complex. Cases can only be scheduled for oral hearings following an examination of the file by a member of the tribunal under section 16(6) and (7) of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. An appeal file is extensive and comprises a range of complex and detailed documents, including: the questionnaire completed by the applicant; notes of the interview between the applicant and an officer of the Refugee Applications Commissioner; section 11 — in some cases — and section 13 reports on the questionnaire and interview notes prepared by the commissioner's office; the recommendation of the commissioner; the notice of appeal; country of origin information; and any observations made to the tribunal by the commissioner or UNHCR.
While the average length of time taken to process and complete a substantive appeal is at present approximately 16 weeks, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal is continually striving to reduce this timeframe to reach those people in need of international protection as quickly as possible.