I propose to take Questions Nos. 269, 270, 312 and 313 together.
I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service INIS) of my Department that statistics are not maintained in a way which identifies unaccompanied or separated children in family reunification application outcomes. As the Deputies will appreciate it would take a disproportionate amount of resources to manually compile the figures thus diverting staff from the core task of application processing.
However, I can say that all aspects of applications for family reunification are fully taken into account including the age and circumstances of the applicants seeking reunification of their families abroad.
I might mention that, in the interests of separated or unaccompanied minors who arrive in the State, Section 14 of the International Protection Act 2015 provides that, where it appears that a person seeking to make an application for international protection, or who is the subject of a preliminary interview, has not attained the age of 18 years and is not accompanied by an adult who is taking responsibility for the care and protection of the person, the Officer shall, as soon as practicable, notify the Child and Family Agency of that fact.
The Separated Children’s Unit in Tusla, the Child and Family Agency are responsible for the care and welfare of unaccompanied minors. They provide for the immediate and ongoing needs of separated children. The responsibilities of TUSLA include accommodation, medical and social needs.