I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the persons referred to by the Deputy never had an immigration permission to remain in the State. This is in breach of Section 5 (1) of the Immigration Act 2004 which provides that no non-national may be in the State other than in accordance with the terms of any permission given to him by or on behalf of the Minister. Furthermore, Section 5(2) of the Act provides that a non-national who is in the State in contravention of subsection (1) is for all purposes unlawfully present in the State.
The person concerned should immediately contact their local Garda Immigration Officer.
Queries on 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.