Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 July 2016
65. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the procedure to regularise the status of a person (details supplied) here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24003/16]
View answerI am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that no record of a person with the name given by the Deputy would appear to be registered in the State. If this is the case, the person concerned is illegally in the State and in breach of the Immigration Act, 2004.
It is open to any foreign national who finds themselves in an undocumented situation to apply to the authorities for permission to remain. Cases are carefully considered before a decision is made. It should also be remembered that most people become undocumented through their own conscious actions or omissions. There are currently no plans to engage in any form of blanket regularisation of migrants who are unlawfully in the State. It is the responsibility of all non EEA nationals who are resident in the State to ensure that they have an appropriate permission from the Minister for Justice and Equality. Most migrants do in fact comply with this condition and obey the State's immigration laws.
At EU Level, the Member States, in agreeing the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum at the European Council in October 2008 made specific commitments "to use only case-by-case regularisation, rather than generalised regularisation, under national law, for humanitarian or economic reasons". While the Pact is not legally binding, the political commitment among Member States, then and now, is clearly against any form of process that would in any way legitimise the status of those unlawfully present without first examining the merits of their individual cases. In our case there are also considerations based on maintaining the integrity of the Common Travel Area with the UK which must be taken into account.
Clearly, all illegal immigrant cases are not the same and must be dealt with on a case by case basis taking account of their individual circumstances. At one end of the scale are those where the person's illegal status is through no fault of their own and indeed the Department continue to deal with cases of this nature on an ongoing basis. However there are also much more egregious instances of immigration abuse, often at considerable expense to the State and it does not follow that such persons should profit from their conduct.
Sometimes case by case consideration will result in a positive outcome for the applicant. However, in other cases this may result in a decision by the Irish authorities, subject to the oversight of our Courts, that the person has to go home. That decision should be respected.
