Vol. 496 No. 3
117 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of applications for family unification received by his Department from members of the Vietnamese community for each of the years since 1982; the number of applications from this community accepted or refused for each of these years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22627/98]
In 1997, 212 Vietnamese refugees were admitted to Ireland from refugee camps in Hong Kong and Malaysia. These refugees, known as programme refugees, are persons who have been invited to Ireland on foot of a Government decision in response to humanitarian requests from bodies such as UNHCR.
The Refugee Agency, which receives applications for family reunification on behalf of the Department, does not keep records of applications on an annual basis. However, the total number of applications for family reunification from the Vietnamese community since 1982 is 220 covering a total of 538 persons.
The number of successful family reunification applications in the period 1982-1998 (to date) is 141 representing 352 persons. A breakdown of these figures is as follows:
|
1982 |
7 applications totalling 20 persons |
|
1983 |
6 applications totalling 12 persons |
|
1984 |
4 applications totalling 8 persons |
|
1985 |
4 applications totalling 7 persons |
|
1986 |
3 applications totalling 4 persons |
|
1987 |
1 application totalling 3 persons |
|
1988 |
19 applications totalling 58 persons |
|
1989 |
9 applications totalling 47 persons |
|
1990 |
10 applications totalling 19 persons |
|
1991 |
7 applications totalling 15 persons |
|
1992 |
3 applications totalling 10 persons |
|
1993 |
14 applications totalling 38 persons |
|
1994 |
10 applications totalling 32 persons |
|
1995 |
16 applications totalling 30 persons |
|
1996 |
11 applications totalling 18 persons |
|
1997 |
11 applications totalling 21 persons |
|
1998 |
6 applications totalling 10 persons (to date) |
|
Total |
141 applications totalling 352 persons |
