Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 30 May 2001

Vol. 537 No. 3

Written Answers. - Asylum Applications.

Jim Higgins

Ceist:

215 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if ecological considerations are assessed in terms of determining whether an applicant for asylum is entitled to such asylum, particularly in the case of applicants coming from areas such as Belarus. [16145/01]

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

The determining criteria for refugee status are set out in Section 2 of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended, which defines a refugee as "a person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it".

Section 1 of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended, defines membership of a particular social group as including membership of a trade union and also includes membership of a group of persons whose defining characteristic is their belonging to the female or the male sex or having a particular sexual orientation. The criteria set out in section 2 of the 1996 Act apply equally to all applications for a declaration as a refugee having regard to the subjective fear of the applicant and to the objective country of origin infor mation. A recommendation/decision is made by the Refugee Applications Commissioner or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, as appropriate, depending on the circumstances applicable in each individual case.