Mr. Doncha O'Sullivan:

I thank the Deputy. The process to designate a country as a safe country of origin is set out in the International Protection Act 2015, and it sets the standards by which the Minister for Justice has to satisfy himself or herself. In broad terms, it means that there is not a generalised risk of persecution or conflict in the country in question. The orders to designate the existing list was done in 2018. There is a provision that it be kept under review, and it is kept under review. From time to time, it is the subject of a formal review. We did a formal review of South Africa in 2021, and are planning to do a formal review of most of the other countries this year, and all of them within the next 12 months. That will involve us looking at the most recent information from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, the EU Agency for Asylum, UN NGOs, Human Rights Watch and so on. We keep a general watching brief on those, because we are dealing with applications from those countries. I do not believe there is any reason to think that the overall position has changed, but we will do so in a formal and legal way. That will be announced and dealt with in public in due course.