Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 November 2020
114. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Justice the number of applicants under the Irish Refugee Protection Humanitarian Admissions Programme in each year; the number of applications which were successful, rejected and still in process; the reason for rejections; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34122/20]
View answerThe Irish Refugee Protection Programme Humanitarian Admission Programme (IHAP), announced in May 2018, is part of the Government's plan to realise the full commitment of 4,000 persons agreed under the first phase of the IRPP in September 2015.
The programme allows holders of an international protection status in Ireland, (i.e. refugees with Convention or Programme Refugee status), holders of Subsidiary Protection grants, and Irish citizens, to make a proposal to me to bring to the State their family members who are nationals of one of the top ten major source countries of refugees as identified by the UNHCR Annual Global Trends Report.
IHAP received proposals for inclusion in the programme within defined periods or ‘windows for submissions’. The first window for accepting proposals ran from 14 May 2018 to 30 June 2018. Processing of the proposals from this first window was completed in 2018. A second window for the submission of proposals ran from 20 December 2018 until 8 February 2019.
The first IHAP round granted permission to 165 beneficiaries. To date, the second round of the IHAP has granted permission to 556 beneficiaries.
When the IHAP was announced in May 2018, it was envisaged that there would be approximately 530 beneficiaries. In December 2019, the allocation was increased to approximately 740 beneficiaries, of whom 721 have already been approved under the IHAP. It is expected that between the pending applications and review requests, that the revised allocation of 740 beneficiaries will be reached, or possibly exceeded.
There are currently around 15 pending applications in respect of approximately 60 beneficiaries and it is expected that these pending applications will include both grants and refusals. The processing of these applications is ongoing however the COVID-19 restrictions have impacted the delivery of normal services to date this year.
694 proposals in respect of 1672 beneficiaries were deemed incomplete under the first round. Some of those refused under the first round would have made successful proposals under the second round. 552 applications in respect of 1157 beneficiaries have been rejected under the second round as they did not meet the criteria set out in establishing the programme.
