Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
245. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice how many asylum applicants have gone missing from State services in each of the past ten years; the number that have been pursued by State authorities; and how many will have been recovered by State authorities in each of the past five years. [2138/24]
View answerWhen an International Protection claim is being examined by the International Protection Office (IPO), the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) provides accommodation and related services to IP applicants who wish to accept such services.
No person is required to stay in any accommodation that is provided by the State. However, applicants for international protection are required to cooperate with the international protection process. This includes ensuring their Temporary Residence Card is in date and their address is up to date with the International Protection Office (IPO). It is the case that many applicants leave the State without notifying the International Protection Office at various stages of the process and choose not to continue with their application.
In those circumstances the IPO will write to applicants who are not cooperating with the process at their last known address, giving them the opportunity to cooperate. The IPO copies this letter to their legal representative, if known. In the event an applicant does not respond, i.e., continues not cooperating with the process, the IPO will proceed to make a recommendation, up to and including a Deportation Order, on their application based on the information available to it. There is close engagement between the Department, GNIB and IPAS concerning persons subject to deportation orders who are or may have been in IPAS accommodation, however, in the overwhelming majority of such cases the individuals are considered likely to have left the State.
Section 5 of the Immigration Act 1999 provides that where an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Síochána, with reasonable cause, suspects that the person against whom a deportation order is in force has failed to comply with any provision of the order, or with a requirement in a notice under section 3 (3)(b)(ii) of the 1999 Act, he or she may arrest him or her without warrant and detain him or her in a prescribed place. As the Deputy will be aware, this is an operational matter for An Garda Síochána. I am informed that the requested statistics are not recorded in a manner to allow this specific data to be extracted.
