Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 November 2014
120. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current position in regard to determination of residency status in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Waterford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43637/14]
View answerI am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that, in response to a notification pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), the person concerned has submitted written representations. These representations, together with all other information and documentation on file, will be fully considered, in accordance with 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, in advance of a final decision being made.
During the examination of the case file of the person concerned, they were requested to submit documentary evidence to attest to their identity and nationality. In response, the person concerned submitted a national passport which was found, on expert examination, to be a false document as the original bio-data page had been replaced by a counterfeit bio-data page. The Deputy will appreciate that once a passport has been tampered with in any way, it ceases to be a valid document. This position was made known to the person concerned by letter dated 28th October, 2014. The person concerned was given 15 working days to respond to this finding and their response is still awaited.
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.
