Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 April 2004
733 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will expedite an appeal to his Department in the name of a person (details supplied); and if he will explain the time frame involved for such applications. [11700/04]
View answer736 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if an appeal in the case of a person (details supplied) will be heard shortly; the date the application was made and the timeframe for a hearing and decision. [11703/04]
View answerI 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.
734 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will expedite a decision in the case of persons (details supplied) who have appealed to his Department for permission to stay in this country on humanitarian grounds; and the timeframe involved. [11701/04]
View answerThe persons in question arrived in the State on 27 April 2000 and 8 August 2000, respectively, and claimed asylum. The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended that they should not be declared as refugees and they were notified of this recommendation on 15 November 2001. The persons in question appealed this recommendation to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Following an oral hearing, the original recommendation was affirmed and they were informed of this decision on 20 September 2002.
In accordance with section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999, the persons concerned were informed on 31 October 2002 that it was proposed to make deportation orders in their case. They were given the options of making representations within 15 working days setting out the reasons as to why they should not be deported, that is be allowed to remain temporarily in the State; leaving the State voluntarily before the order was made; or consenting to the making of a deportation order. Representations have been received on behalf of the persons concerned. Their case file will be considered under a range of factors as set out in section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999, including, inter alia, domestic circumstances, employment history and employment prospects. I expect their case files to be submitted to me for consideration shortly.
735 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when a first interview will be arranged in the case of a person (details supplied). [11702/04]
View answerIt 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. I understand that the applicant in question will be scheduled for interview in the near future.
