Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 January 2012
183 Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons in total, living here, who are covered by the Zambrano ruling, that is, non-EU citizen parents with EU citizen children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2839/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra184 Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of cases to date that have been processed under the Zambrano ruling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2840/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra185 Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of qualifying parents, who were deported, who have been given leave to return as a result of the Zambrano ruling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2841/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra186 Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Irish citizen children, who had to leave the State with parents who were deported who have returned with their parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2842/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra187 Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of cases covered by the Zambrano ruling still to be processed; when he expects these pending cases covered by the Zambrano ruling to be completed; the reason there are such delays in processing these cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2843/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 183 to 187, inclusive, together.
By way of background for the Deputy's information, the European Union Court of Justice Judgment in the Zambrano case, delivered on 8th March, 2011, precludes an EU Member State from refusing a non-EU national parent who has minor dependent children, who are EU citizens, the right to reside in the Member State of residence and nationality of those children. In an Irish context, the Zambrano Judgment relates to certain non-EU national parents of an Irish born minor citizen child who are residing in this State with their Irish born minor citizen child or children.
It is not possible to state categorically the number of third country national parents who are residing here who would be impacted by this Judgment. However, my Department has identified approximately 1,700 cases where the Judgment may apply and where the third country national parents involved had no separate right of residency in the State. This figure does not include the cases of third country national parents of an Irish born minor citizen child who had an existing right of residency in the State by virtue of being present here lawfully as a worker, spouse, student, etc, and, as such, were in a position to apply directly to the Garda National Immigration Bureau for a status upgrade. Some 135 of those 1,700 cases involved persons who had legal challenges before the courts at the time the Judgment was delivered.
All of these cases have to be individually considered before a decision is arrived at to grant or refuse a right of residency. To date, my Department has made decisions in just over 1,000 such cases with over 850 of those decisions having been favourable. These decisions have been taken in the best interests of the welfare of eligible minor Irish citizen children. Approximately 700 such cases remain to be finalised. The Deputy should note that in the context of approximately half of the outstanding cases, documentation or clarification has been requested from the persons involved and those cases cannot be considered further until the relevant documentation or clarification has been received. Some of the other outstanding cases involve persons who have only recently contacted my Department seeking to assert a right of residency in the State based on the principles of the Zambrano Judgment while some of the remaining cases remain to be considered, for example, in the light of information which has been established in respect of the persons in question.
In terms of the cases of parents of an Irish born minor citizen child who left the State on foot of a Deportation Order, the position is that, to date, six such persons have been granted a visa to re-enter the State. It is not possible to establish the number of Irish citizen children who will be returning to the State with such parents as my Department does not retain such records.
My Department is working on the outstanding cases referred to above and will continue to do so until a decision has been made in every individual case. The implementation of the Zambrano Judgment in this State has been founded on my pragmatic initiative to reflect what is in the best interests of the eligible minor Irish citizen children involved while ensuring that the Irish taxpayer is not exposed to any unnecessary additional legal costs.
