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Asylum Applications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2012

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Questions (504)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

504. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current and or expected position in relation to residency or naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46145/12]

View answer

Written answers

The case referred to by the Deputy comprises a mother and her young children. The mother applied for asylum on 4th March, 2008. A separate asylum application was lodged on behalf of her eldest child on 13th May, 2008. Their respective asylum claims were refused following the consideration of the cases by the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.

Arising from the refusal of their respective asylum applications, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), the mother and her child were notified, by separate letters dated 15th November, 2010, that the then Minister proposed to make deportation orders in respect of them. They were each given the options, to be exercised within 15 working days, of leaving the State voluntarily, of consenting to the making of a Deportation Order or of making representations to the Minister setting out the reasons why deportation orders should not be made against them. In addition, they was notified of their respective entitlements to apply for Subsidiary Protection in accordance with the provisions of the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006.

The persons concerned submitted separate applications for Subsidiary Protection. When consideration of these applications has been completed, the persons concerned will be notified in writing of the outcomes. In the event that the applications for Subsidiary Protection are refused, the position in the State of the persons concerned will then be decided by reference to the provisions of Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended) and Section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) on the prohibition of refoulement. All representations submitted will be considered before final decisions are made. Once decisions have been made, these decisions, and the consequences of the decisions, will be conveyed in writing to the persons concerned.

An asylum application has also been lodged in respect of a second child. This application was lodged on 10th July, 2012. The Deputy will appreciate that it is not my practice to comment on individual asylum applications where a final decision has not been made. The Deputy's Question would suggest that there is a further child in this family, however, my Department has no record of such a child having been documented to date. Given that none of the persons referred to by the Deputy have a right of residency in the State, the issue of naturalisation does not arise at this time.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.

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