Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 February 2013
197. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress made to date and future entitlement of eligibility for naturalisation in the case of persons (details supplied) in Dublin 15; if he has studied the reasons given for refusal of asylum in 2004 having particular regard to the circumstances prevailing at the time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9470/13]
View answerThe persons concerned have outstanding applications for subsidiary protection and applications under Section 3 of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended). These applications are under consideration at present and the persons concerned will be notified in writing of the outcomes as soon as possible.
The Deputy should note that as the persons concerned have no current right of residency in the State, they would not be in a position to meet the lawful residency criteria applicable to persons applying to my Department for a Certificate of Naturalisation.
In relation to the asylum applications made by the persons concerned, those applications were investigated by the statutory independent refugee status determining bodies, namely the Offices of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, both of whom concluded that the persons concerned did not meet the criteria for recognition as refugees. Given that those applications have been considered in the appropriate manner, I see no justification for having those applications re-visited.
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.
