asked the Minister for Justice the procedures that exist at airports and ports in the State to determine requests from nationals of the USSR and other Warsaw Pact Countries to be allowed to remain in Ireland or to travel to a country, such as the UK or the USA, instead of being required to travel to the final destination of the plane or ship in which such person arrived in this State; if he will state in detail the criteria used in determining such requests; and who makes the decision to grant or refuse such requests.
Written Answers. - Port Procedures.
483.
Limerick East): Citizens of the countries in question are amongst those required to obtain visas beforehand as a condition of being permitted to land in the State. Where a person arrives without a visa and asks permission to stay for a short or long period, he is questioned by the immigration service who because such applications are relatively rare are usually able to consult the Department in the matter. A decision to admit a citizen of one of the countries concerned who had not got a visa would be taken only if there were some very exceptional circumstances.
As stated in my speech in the course of the adjournment debate on 12 June 1984 it is necessary to distinguish between persons who are applicants for political asylum and other persons who for one reason or another would prefer to live in this country or in some other specified country though I would emphasise that the category into which a person comes does not depend in any way on whether he uses the phrase "political asylum" or words to like effect.
It has never been the practice and it would be quite impractical for the authorities here to allow transit passengers to remain in the country simply on the chance that an application by them to be admitted to a third country might in due course be approved by the authorities in the third country.
As regards political asylum the criterion applied is taken from Article I of the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and is whether the person has a "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion". While I could not give any commitment on the matter since circumstances can vary so much, I can say that if a prima facie case exists the decision on such an application would normally be taken by the Minister.