Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 November 2013
172. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current residency status or eligibility to apply for naturalisation or both in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50088/13]
View answerThe person concerned is a failed asylum applicant. Arising from the refusal of her asylum application, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), the person concerned was notified, by letter dated 18th August, 2006, that the then Minister proposed to make a Deportation Order in respect of her. She was 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 written representations to the then Minister setting out the reasons why a Deportation Order should not be made against her.
The person concerned initiated judicial review proceedings in the High Court, challenging the decision of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal in her case. The judicial review proceedings were struck out on 4th July, 2008 meaning that the earlier decisions of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and the then Minister stood.
The person concerned proceeded to lodge an application for subsidiary protection and, in this regard, I recently signed into law a Statutory Instrument to introduce new procedures for the processing of subsidiary protection applications by the Offices of the Refugee Applications Commissioner at first instance and, on appeal, by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
When consideration of the subsidiary protection application has been completed, the person concerned will be notified in writing of the outcome. In the event that the application for subsidiary protection is refused, the position in the State of the person 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 a final decision is made. Once a final decision has been made, this decision, and the consequences of the decision, will be conveyed in writing to the person concerned.
Given that the person concerned has no current right of residency in the State, the Deputy will appreciate that the issue of an application for a Certificate 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 of my Department 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.
