Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2019
486. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress to date in the determination of a proposal and application pursuant to the Irish refugee protection programme, humanitarian admissions programme, IHAP, in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13015/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that the person concerned has made a proposal under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, Humanitarian Admissions Programme (IHAP) for two family members to join her in the State.
The IHAP programme was established to provide humanitarian admission to Ireland for 530 eligible family members of Irish citizens and those with protection status in Ireland. A second call for proposals under the IHAP issued in December 2018, with a closing date for proposals of the 8 February 2019. Processing of proposals under the second call has commenced, however a large number of proposals has again been received (over 800 proposals in respect of over 1700 potential beneficiaries). Processing will therefore take some time to complete and it is not possible at this stage to give an indication of when a decision will issue in respect of any particular proposal. However it is anticipated that the majority of decisions will issue by June 2019.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS of my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
