Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Feb 1998

Vol. 486 No. 6

Written Answers. - Refugee Status.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

78 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum seekers who have applied for refugee status in each of the years from 1995 to 1997; the total number of applications pending a decision by his Department; the number of applications that have been approved, rejected or withdrawn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3077/98]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular statements.

Table 1

Asylum Seekers 1992-1998

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998(31/1)
No. of applications	39	91	362	424	1,179	3,883	321
No. of applications withdrawn	3	52	222	219	372	562	0
First Stage
No. recognised as refugees at first stage of determination	7	9	33	88	120	2	0
No. refused at first stage of determination	29	30	105	103	144	8	0
of which— granted temporary leave to remain	(7)	(5)	(66)	(21)	(36)	(0)	(0)
No. of first instance applications outstanding	Nil	Nil	2	14	543	3,311	321
Appeal Stage
No. of cases appealed	4	19	18	54	100	0	0
No. of cases withdrawn before appeal				1
No. of cases granted refugee status following appeal	0	1	1	2	1	0	0
No. of cases refused following appeal	2	16	14	20	3	0	0
of which—granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(2)	(11)	(1)	(5)	(1)	(0)	(0)
No. of appeal cases outstanding	2	2	3	31	96	0	0
No. of cases on hands at 31/1/98	2	2	5	45	639	3,311	321
Total no. of cases outstanding							4,325

Table 2

Decisions *

Decision taken in:	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Granted refugee status at first stage	4	14	33	208	2
Granted refugee status at appeal stage	0	0	0	4	1
Refused status	27	43	32	304	14
of which—granted temporary leave to remain	(5)	(8)	(6)	(120)	(0)
Total	31	57	65	516	17

* It should be noted that these decisions refer to the year in which the decisions were taken and NOT to the year in which the applications were lodged.