Written Answers Nos. 84-89
84. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if a letter dated 21 August 2014 which issued from INIS may be resent to a person (details supplied) in County Galway as that person never received the letter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15889/15]
View answerI am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that they are carrying out further enquiries in relation to the person referred to by the Deputy and will be in touch with him directly in the coming days.
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 where staff are not under the same pressure of time constraints when making their replies.
85. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the action that is being taken to reform the direct provision system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15891/15]
View answer87. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide details of her recent meetings with the non-governmental organisations forum on direct provision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15893/15]
View answer88. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she has concerns regarding the direct provision system (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15894/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 85, 87 and 88 together.
The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department is responsible for the accommodation of asylum seekers in accordance with the Government policy of direct provision and dispersal. Currently, there are over 4,400 residents in 34 centres across the State under contract to RIA. Details of all of these centres and the companies or persons RIA has contracted to provide accommodation services are published in RIA's Annual Reports available on its website - www.ria.gov.ie.
In relation to costs, expenditure on the Direct Provision system on the Vote of the Department of Justice and Equality since 2008 has decreased from €91.5m to €53.22m in 2014. RIA's Annual Reports provide a breakdown of this yearly expenditure. Notwithstanding these significant costs the Deputy should be aware that a Value For Money review of spending by RIA published in 2010 found that an alternative system to Direct Provision would cost twice as much – not including the costs that would arise from a “pull factor” which would follow from a full welfare based system with rent supplements and so forth.
In relation to reform, last year the Government set up an independent working group to report to it on improvements to the protection process, including direct provision and supports for asylum seekers. It is chaired by former High Court judge, Dr. Bryan McMahon, and comprises senior officials from all relevant Departments, the UNHCR, representatives of academia and various NGOs who have a long-standing interest in this area and other representatives of civil society. The working group developed a work programme early on and established three sub-groups to deal with the following themes. The first deals with conditions in centres, the second deals with supports for asylum seekers and the third deals with improving the processing of protection claims. Over 40 meetings at plenary and sub-group level have taken place since the first meeting of the working group on 11 November 2014.
The working group has taken evidence directly from residents in the direct provision system both in writing and orally, visited centres around the country and spoken directly to residents. It has engaged with particular groups of applicants including children, victims of torture, victims of trafficking and sexual violence, members of the LGBTI community and has taken oral and written submissions from a number of experts in this field, including the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Dr. Geoffrey Shannon. The Government recognises that the issues to be examined by the working group are complex and require thorough consideration to ensure that any recommendations are practical and sustainable from a budgetary perspective and do not undermine existing border controls and immigration policies.
The Chairman has indicated that the Working Group will be in a position to finalise its report before the end of May 2015 after which the Government will then consider the recommendations made therein.
The reference to the NGO Forum on Direct Provision is not understood. There is no such forum. There is a forum whereby NGO's meet with officials of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) where matters relating to immigration and asylum matters generally are discussed. If the reference is to the independent Working Group as described above, I do not attend its meetings.
86. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to address the asylum backlog of 4,309 cases (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15892/15]
View answerAt the outset I should say that the figure stated by the Deputy refers to the number of persons availing of Direct Provision accommodation in the State in October 2014. The Deputy is advised that those in the Direct Provision system, whilst including applicants awaiting decisions for extended durations at various stages of the protection process, also includes recent applicants who have spent relatively short periods in the process, those who have taken judicial reviews in the courts against negative decisions on their applications, those subject to deportation orders following negative decisions, and an increasing number of persons who have elected to remain in the Direct Provision system following the granting of refugee status or leave to remain due to difficulties in sourcing suitable accommodation elsewhere.
I have no plans to introduce a one-off scheme to clear all protection applications currently on hand. The Deputy may be aware that there is a political commitment among EU Member States against any form of process that would grant residence status to persons present in the State without first examining the merits of their individual cases. Broad regularisation programmes are problematic, in particular as they could give rise to unpredictable and very costly impacts across the full range of public and social services.
I have previously acknowledged however that the length of time that many applicants spend in the protection process is a matter that needs to be addressed particularly in light of the sharp increase in asylum application volumes in 2014 and so far in 2015. The Deputy may be aware that an independent Working Group was set up by Government in October 2014 to recommend to the Government what improvements should be made to the protection process, including direct provision and supports to asylum seekers. One of the tasks of the Working Group is to identify improvements to existing arrangements for the processing of protection applications taking account of the Government's intention to legislate for a single application procedure.
The Group began its work in November last under the Chairmanship of retired High Court Judge, Bryan McMahon and its membership is drawn from a range of interests in the international protection area including UNHCR, non-governmental organisations, protection applicants, academia, and relevant Government Departments and Offices. The Working Group is due to report to Government with its recommendations by May 2015.
I have also committed to introducing legislative change in the Protection area to provide for a single application procedure with a view to reducing the length of time applicants spend in the protection process. On 25 March 2015 I published the General Scheme of the International Protection Bill, which has been approved by Government. This is the first step in delivering the Government's undertaking in the Statement of Priorities 2014-2016 to legislate to reduce the length of time protection applicants spend in the system. My objective is to reform the current multi-layered and sequential system which can result in applicants being accommodated in the State's system of direct provision for indeterminate periods of time. The single procedure will identify at a much earlier stage those who are in need of international protection and should be granted status and those with no entitlement to stay in the State and who can safely return to their country of origin.
In accordance with the Government decision I have forwarded the General Scheme of the Bill to the Attorney General for the detailed drafting of the legislation which, subject to the approval of the Government at a future time, will be presented to the Oireachtas for enactment into law. My aim is for the legislation to be enacted by the end of this year.
Notwithstanding the deliberations of the Working Group on the Protection process and the future publication of the International Protection Bill, a number of measures have already been taken to address the number of cases on hand in the protection system which are yielding significant results. Various strategies are being utilised to deal with cases on hand including the scheduling of interviews of applicants on Saturdays. The transfer of subsidiary protection application processing to the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner in late 2013 has resulted in the production of decisions in some 1,000 cases at first instance. In addition, a further 1,300 subsidiary protection applications have either been withdrawn or deemed withdrawn. The processing of these cases has been greatly aided by the establishment of a legal panel set up to assist the Commissioner with this work. Based on the success of the use of the panel it is now planned to expand it and extend its remit to include the processing of asylum applications.
To assist with processing at the appeals stage of the process I have recently appointed nine additional members to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. These members have been selected from those who were considered suitable for appointment following a competitive process involving the Public Appointments Service. My Department is also actively considering what other measures can be taken to reduce the number of cases on hand at the leave to remain stage of the process in advance of the introduction of a single application procedure.
89. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality when legislation concerning spent convictions is likely to be enacted, in view of the fact this is a critical issue for those who may have had a minor misdemeanour in their youth which has impacted on their prospects in education or employment. [15937/15]
View answerThe current position is that before the Spent Convictions Bill could be enacted, a 2013 UK Court of Appeal judgment necessitated a review of the disclosure provisions in both the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and the Spent Convictions Bill. That review has been completed and amendments to the Vetting Act and consequential amendments to the Spent Convictions Bill are currently being drafted.
I intend to bring the amendments to the Bill before the Oireachtas as soon as possible with a view to commencing the Act by the summer. Pending the amendment of the Bill, an Administrative Filter for Garda Vetting Disclosures has been introduced, which provides that certain minor offences that are over 7 years old are no longer disclosed. This Administrative Filter already gives effect to the main provisions likely to be contained in the amended Act.
In regard to any minor misdemeanour committed by a person under 18, Section 258 of the Children Act 2001 already provides that such convictions are not disclosed.
