Asylum Applications.

Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Questions (483, 484)

Denis Naughten

Question:

551 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons granted leave to remain here on humanitarian grounds in each of the past ten years; the corresponding number who were failed asylum seekers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26041/08]

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Written answers

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

In the period 1998-2008 a total of 2,355 persons were granted Leave to Remain in the State of whom 2,202 were people who had sought asylum. A statistical breakdown on a year-by-year basis is set out in the following table:

Year	Leave to Remain Granted	Asylum Seekers Granted Leave to Remain
1998	2	2
1999	22	22
2000	11	11
2001	53	52
2002	99	93
2003	59	55
2004	210	183
2005	154	151
2006	217	206
2007	857	816
2008 (1 Jan-30 June)	671	611

Note: The above figures are correct as at 30/06/2008. There is a variation in leave to remain figures for recent years due to the continuous updating of data to the information management system.

Denis Naughten

Question:

552 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 212 of 14 November 2007, if he will provide complete figures for 2007 and to date in 2008; if he will break down the figures for the years 2003 to date in 2008 into the categories of those who failed to attend for interview, who fail to comply with the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and failure to notify change of address; the number of applicants in each year who were served with a notice of intent to deport and the number who were not; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26043/08]

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Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

The Immigration Act 2003, which was commenced on the 15th September 2003, contained a number of key changes to the Refugee Act, 1996 which enabled the processing of asylum applications to be speeded up and enhanced our ability to deal with abusive applications. These changes included the imposition on applicants of a clear statutory duty to actively pursue their asylum applications and co-operate at all times with the processing agencies or face having their applications deemed withdrawn.

The most common reasons for an application to be deemed withdrawn are where an applicant fails to attend for an interview at the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) without reasonable cause; an applicant fails to co-operate with the Refugee Applications Commissioner after having lodged his or her application; or an applicant fails to notify the Commissioner of his or her postal address or change of address.

Since the commencement of the Immigration Act, 2003 recommendations are made by the ORAC to the Minister that an application should be deemed withdrawn.

Statistics are not maintained in a way which distinguishes between applications deemed withdrawn on the basis of applicants failing to notify the Refugee Applications Commissioner of their postal address or change of address and applications deemed withdrawn for other reasons.

The number of asylum applications deemed to be withdrawn in the period from 2003 to end of May 2008 are set out in the following table (asylum applications deemed to be withdrawn where the application was transferred to another Dublin Convention country are provided separately).

Asylum applications deemed withdrawn 2003-2008 (31/05)

Year	Asylum applications deemed withdrawn
2003	402
2004	1,734
2005	802
2006	477
2007	1,777
2008 (31/05)	375

Section 13(2) of the Refugee Act (as amended) provides that there is no right of appeal against a recommendation to deem an application withdrawn.

Where an asylum application is deemed to be withdrawn the applicant is served with a notice of intent to deport under section 3(3)(a) of the Immigration Act, 1999. A person served with a notice of intent to deport is afforded certain options, viz. to leave the State voluntarily; to consent to the making of a Deportation Order; to make an application for subsidiary protection; or to make representations in writing within 15 working days setting out reasons as to why a Deportation Order should not be made and why temporary leave to remain in the State be granted instead.

In determining whether to make a deportation order or grant temporary leave to remain in the State, I must have regard to the eleven factors set out in Section 3(6) of the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended, and Section 5 (Prohibition of Refoulement) of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended. Temporary leave to remain is considered in every case regardless of whether representations are made by, or on behalf of, the persons concerned.

Statistics are not maintained in a way which distinguishes between deportations effected arising from applications deemed to be withdrawn and other deportations. The overall number of deportations issued and effected in the period from 2003 to end of May 2008 is set out in the following table.

Deportation Orders Issued and Effected 2003-2008 (31/05)

Year	All Deportation orders issued*	All Deportation orders effected*
2003	1,960	591
2004	2,068	599
2005	2,185	396
2006	1,374	302
2007	404	135
2008 (31/05)	205	43

*Including failed asylum applicants.

Section 22(8) of the Refugee Act (as amended) provides that where an asylum application has been transferred to another Convention country for examination or to a safe third country, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.

The number of asylum applications transferred to a Convention country in each of the years since the Dublin II Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003) was commenced on 1st September 2003 is set out in the following table:

Year	No. of asylum applications transferred to Convention countries
2003	0
2004	65
2005	209
2006	294
2007	225
2008 (31/05)	116