The asylum applications made by the first, second and third persons concerned were refused and, in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), they were notified, by letters dated 26th August, 2010, 10th September, 2008 and 28th July, 2010 respectively, that the Minister proposed to make Deportation Orders in respect of each of them. They were each given the options, to be exercised within 15 working days, of leaving the State voluntarily, of consenting to the making of a Deportation Order or of making representations to the Minister setting out the reasons why a Deportation Order should not be made against them. In addition, they were notified of their respective entitlements to apply for Subsidiary Protection in accordance with the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006.
The persons concerned submitted individual applications for Subsidiary Protection. When consideration of these applications has been completed, the persons concerned will be notified in writing of the outcomes.
In the event that the applications for Subsidiary Protection are refused, the position in the State of the persons concerned will then be decided by reference to the provisions of Section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended) and Section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) on the prohibition of refoulement. All representations submitted will be considered before the files are passed to me for decision. Once decisions have been made, these decisions and the consequences of the decisions will be conveyed in writing to the persons concerned.
An asylum application was lodged by the fourth person concerned on 1st September, 2010. This asylum application is the subject of Judicial Review Proceedings in the High Court and, as such, it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comment on that case at this time.
I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by Email using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. The service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek this information through the more administratively expensive Parliamentary Questions process.