Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 June 2004
212 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons who have applied for asylum here for each of the past seven years; and if he can set out statistically the rate and percentage of those applying who are rejected. [16722/04]
View answer213 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he can give a statistical breakdown of the grounds under which asylum applicants are accepted and given status here. [16723/04]
View answer214 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum seekers that had their cases accepted on the grounds that they were the subject of persecution for gender, sexual orientation or membership of a trade union; and if he can give an overall breakdown on other reasons asylum seekers are accepted. [16724/04]
View answer216 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum seekers who have applied here; and the average cost of processing an asylum claim. [16726/04]
View answer217 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the level of spending by his Department on the asylum system; and if he can give estimates for other departmental spending related to this issue so that an overall figure for the cost of the asylum system to the taxpayer can be reached. [16727/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 212, 213, 214, 216 and 217 together.
The number of persons who have applied for asylum here for each of the past seven years is as follows:
|
Year |
No. of Applications |
|
1997 |
3,883 |
|
1998 |
4,626 |
|
1999 |
7,724 |
|
2000 |
10,938 |
|
2001 |
10,325 |
|
2002 |
11,634 |
|
2003 |
7,900 |
On the basis of statistics available for 2003 the percentage of rejected applications for asylum exceeds 90%.
The Deputy will be aware that under the Refugee Act 1996, as amended, two independent statutory offices consider applications-appeals for refugee status. These two offices are the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, ORAC, which considers applications for refugee status at first instance and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, RAT, which considers appeals from negative recommendations of the commissioner. Decisions on asylum applications are made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform upon receipt of the recommendation-decision of the Refugee Applications Commissioner or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
I am informed that detailed records are not kept on the breakdown of the grounds on which applicants are granted refugee status. However, all applications for asylum in the State are processed in accordance with the provisions of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended, and, in particular, having due regard to the definition of a "refugee" in section 2 of that Act, which states that 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 or her nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.
In considering an asylum claim, consideration is given to the subjective and objective elements of the application. The subjective element of an asylum application concerns the applicant's individual circumstances as they are perceived and described by him or her. The objective element of the application concerns the relevant country of origin information which comes from a wide variety of sources including information from organisations such as the UNHCR, Amnesty International, US State Department, Canadian immigration authorities and other EU member states as well as media and Internet sources. In addition to these periodically updated sources, the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal have access to up to date news reports regarding events and developments in the countries concerned.
While the costs arising from the provision of services to asylum seekers are primarily a matter for the individual Departments and agencies with responsibility for such services, the most recent information available indicates the amount spent on asylum seeker services for 2003, which also includes immigration functions such as the operation of the deportation process, was in the region of €353 million spread between a number of Departments and agencies.
In the case of costs directly associated with the processing of asylum claims which are met from my Department's Vote, these amounted to €30 million in 2003 and included expenditure by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and the Refugee Legal Service on such items as the servicing of asylum interviews and appeals hearings, payments for translation and interpretation services and legal fees. In 2003, the total cost to my Department and the asylum agencies of asylum and immigration services was in the region of €120 million. This included costs directly associated with the processing of asylum applications and also expenditure on, for example, the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers and the operation of the deportation process.
The successful implementation of the Government's asylum strategy including the operation of the wide ranging amendments to the Refugee Act 1996 contained in the Immigration Act 2003, which were aimed at, inter alia, streamlining the asylum decision making process, has had a positive impact in terms of processing times and partly resulted in the second highest reduction in asylum applications in any EU state in 2003. While continued reduction in asylum applications can be expected to have an impact on the resources allocated to services for asylum seekers in the future, expenditure in this area will have to be maintained at such a level as to ensure the efficient and effective processing of applications in particular.
In addition, the provision of immigration-related services generally will continue to require an adequate level of resources so as to ensure that these also continue to be provided in an efficient and effective manner. This will include resources, for example, for the operation of the deportation process and for the processing of applications for visas and citizenship all of which have been on the increase in recent years.
215 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the grounds under which an asylum seeker can, once asylum status is achieved, bring dependent siblings and parents to this country; and the number of persons who have been given the right to reside here under this particular category. [16725/04]
View answerA person who has been granted refugee status may apply for permission to be granted to a member of his or her family to enter and reside in the State under section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996. Under section 18(3) such permission must, save in exceptional cases, be granted to immediate family members, that is, spouses, minor children and, if the refugee himself is an unmarried minor, his parents, upon verification by the Refugee Applications Commissioner of the authenticity of the relationship. Applications for family reunification may also be made for dependent members of a refugee's family under section 18(4). Dependent members of the family mean any grandparent, parent, brother, sister, child, grandchild, ward or guardian of the refugee who is dependent on the refugee or is suffering from a mental or physical disability to such an extent that it is not reasonable for him or her to maintain himself or herself fully. Such applications may be granted at my discretion.
The total number of family reunification applications which have been approved are set out in the following table. Parents of refugees may have been granted permission under section 18(3) or section 18(4) of the Refugee Act 1996.
|
Year |
Applications Approved — S.18(3) |
Applications Approved — S.18(4) |
|
2003 |
240 |
30 |
|
2004 (to 31 May) |
225 |
8 |
