Ms Lorna Kavanagh:

It is a general intake assessment. If, during the course of that intake assessment, it appears to us that there is a concern in relation to the age of the young person, we suspend the assessment to allow the young person to seek advice and to get an advocate. That is in recognition of what the Senator was saying - the serious implications of determining somebody to be an adult if he or she is, in fact, a minor. We suspend the assessment for the young person to seek advice and to get an advocate, which we have sourced for him or her, and then they re-present and we proceed with the assessment.

The assessment, basically, looks at their story in relation to their family structure - who is in their family, what their journey was to the country, what their level of functioning is and whether they have any dependants in their country of origin. We try not to arrive at a conclusion based on any one aspect of that. If there is supporting documentation from professionals in the international protection accommodation services , IPAS, or Safetynet, for example, we have had some submissions from doctors, all of that is taken in the round.

This is not an exact science. Other member states use medical assessments. That is not the course of action here in Ireland. It is cautioned against because of the two-year margin of error for conducting medical assessments on young people presenting as minors. It is a social history account from the young person and, as I say, not an exact science. Based on that interview and assessment, with the advocate and young person in the room, a decision is arrived at on whether we believe the young person is, in fact, an adult.