Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 9 Nov 1999

Vol. 510 No. 3

Written Answers. - Refugee Status.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

372 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of applications for refugee status for each of the years from 1997 to date; the number of these applications dealt with in each year; and the number granted in each of these years. [22348/99]

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

The number of applications for refugee status since 1997 are as follows: 3993 – 1997; 4626 – 1998; 5497 – 1999 (to 31 October 1999).

The following is a brief synopsis of some of the key statistics on the level of processing by my asy lum – operations – division otherwise known as the asylum seekers task force. Since commencing operations on 5 May 1998, a total of 6,332 interviews have been scheduled, 4,113 conducted. Of those who failed to show for interview many were rescheduled but as a result of ongoing co-operation with the Eastern Health Board and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, approximately 2,000 have been deemed abandoned. A further 2,954 have withdrawn from the system. Of the 4,475 whose cases were considered substantively at the first stage, 514 have been granted – 11.5 per cent – and 3,961 have been refused – 88.5 per cent. Of those refused, 2,939 have availed of the opportunity to appeal – 74 per cent. Of the 1,127 appeals decided so far, 352 were granted – 31 per cent – and 763 have been refused – 58 per cent. A further 221 withdrew their appeals before the case was heard. A further 1,591 appeals remain to be considered.

A detailed schedule which includes the information requested by the Deputy for the period up to 31 October 1999 is set out in the following tabular statement.

Asylum Seekers 1992-1999

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999(31/10)
No. of applications	39	91	362	424	1,179	3,883	4,626	5,497
No. of applications withdrawn before decision	3	52	222	220	550	1,360	789	210
No. of withdrawn applications re-submitted to the Asylum Process	0	0	0	0	11	53	31	6
No. of applications transferred out under Dublin Convention	0	0	0	0	0	15	15	0
First Stage
No. recognised as refugees	7	9	34	90	171	119	77	7
No. refused	29	30	106	113	431	1,452	1,660	140
No. deemed abandonedof which – returned to first stage determination process					28	667	7909	65
No. found to be manifestly unfounded				1	11	65	102	16
of which – returned to first stage determination process following appeal of manifastly unfounded decision					3	5	4
granted temporary leave to remain	7	5	66	21	36	0	0
No. of first instance applications outstanding	0	0	0	0	2	263	1,237	5,065
Appeal Stage
No. of substantive cases appealed	6	21	21	73	360	1,249	1,059	73
No. of Man/Unfounded cases appealed				1	4	28	38	4
Total appealed	6	21	21	74	364	1,277	1,097	77
No. of cases withdrawn before appeal	2	3	6	9	23	87	88	3
No. of cases granted refugee status following appeal	1	1	1	11	87	173	75
No. returned to first stage determination process					3	5	4
No. of substative cases refused following appeal	3	17	14	53	218	301	136
No. of Man/Unfounded refused following appeal				1	1	13	8
granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	(2)	(14)	(5)	(9)	(16)	(15)	(2)
No. of appeal cases outstanding	0	0	0	0	34	698	783	74
of which – manifestly unfounded						(9)	(22)	(4)
Total no. of cases in hand	0	0	0	0	36	961	2,020	5,139
								8,156

It should be noted that all above figures relating to decisions, withdrawals, appeals etc., refer to the year in which the application was lodged and NOT to the year in which the decision, withdrawal, appeal etc, was made.

Decisions taken in*

	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999(31/10)
Granted refugee status at first stage	4	15	36	209	128	131
Granted refugee status at appeal stage	0	0	0	4	40	308
Refused status of which	27	43	32	304	1,202	4,080
–granted temporary leave to remain at first instance	(5)	(8)	(6)	(120)	0	0
–were found to be manifestly unfounded	0	0	0	0	(104)	(91)
–were deemed abandoned					(2)	(1,548)
–returned to first stage determination process following appeal of manifestly unfounded decision					(12)
–granted temporary leave to remain following appeal	0	0	0	0	(27)	(35)
Total	31	58	68	517	1,370	4,519

*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.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

373 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of staff employed to deal with the processing of applications for refugee status for each of the years from 1997 to 1999. [22349/99]

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

Following the Government decision of July 1997 and the resolution of the industrial relations problems on the use of retired public servants, the Department of Finance gave sanction for 72 posts on 27 February 1998 to put together an asylum task force. Arrangements were made to source the staff, comprehensive training was provided in conjunction with the UNHCR, systems were put in place and operations commenced in earnest on 5 May 1998. That date can therefore be regarded as the starting point from which we have begun to fully address the backlog of applications.

On the recommendation of the reconvened interdepartmental committee on asylum, immigration and related matters and in order to maintain the momentum in the processing, the Government decided on 28 July 1998 to approve a further 72 posts to concentrate on processing the cases through the appeals stage and to provide for the needs that exist in immigration and citizenship division and the aliens registration office as a consequence of the administrative burden caused by the influx of asylum seekers.

In December 1996 there were 4.5 staff assigned to full time asylum duties. By the end of 1997 the number of staff dedicated to dealing with asylum applications had risen to 23 and by the end of 1998 the total number was 109. The task force has a current staff of 118 staff, with nine vacancies, giving a total authorised complement of 127 staff.