Refugee Status.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 July 2009

Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Ceisteanna (277)

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

294 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average waiting time to process travel documents, 1951 convention travel document, issued to persons granted a declaration of refugee status in the State under section 17(1) Refugee Act 1996 and programme refugees, temporary travel document, which may issue in specific emergency circumstances; the number of applications awaiting a decision; the number received, approved and rejected in the past 12 months; the steps he is taking to speed up the processing time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28232/09]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

I am informed by the Immigration Services Section of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service that applications for Travel Documents are currently taking 5 — 6 weeks to process on receipt of fully completed applications. In all instances processing arrangements are kept under ongoing review and steps are taken to ensure that applications are dealt with as quickly as possible having regard to overall resources across the full range of services provided by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. At the end of June 2009 there were 505 applications on hand awaiting decision.

The following table outlines the figures for the past 12 months in respect of applications processed by the Travel Document Unit.

Month	Received	Approved	Refused
	UN Convention	Temporary	UN Convention	Temporary	UN Convention	Temporary
Jul 2008	461	193	587	253	1	25
Aug 2008	181	85	326	154	1	20
Sep 2008	80	153	238	67	0	27
Oct 2008	320	170	347	101	0	75
Nov 2008	361	117	339	60	0	87
Dec 2008	258	39	262	33	1	43
Jan 2009	284	128	296	55	0	54
Feb 2009	315	161	267	60	0	85
Mar 2009	447	117	407	40	0	65
Apr 2009	505	195	574	25	1	177
May 2009	495	99	330	23	0	82
Jun 2009	619	217	513	105	3	19
Overall	4,326	1,674	4,486	976	7	759