Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy is probably aware, leave to remain in the State is predominantly sought by non-European economic area nationals who do not have a separate legal basis for being here. In the great majority of cases, applications of this nature are lodged by persons who have claimed asylum and who have had their applications finally rejected. They are also made by persons who have otherwise become illegal in the State through, for example, the expiration of a visitor visa or a work permit.

Applications for leave to remain in the State are founded on the provisions of section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended. Under these provisions, persons who have no legal basis for being in the State are afforded the following options: to leave the State voluntarily; to consent to deportation; or to submit, within a period of 15 working days, written representations to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform setting out the reasons they should be permitted to remain temporarily in the State. The majority of persons faced with these choices opt for the latter and submit, or have submitted on their behalf, written representations in support of their applications for permission to remain in the State.

As the Deputy will appreciate, all such applications must be considered on their individual merits. As provided for under section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, a range of factors must be examined. The consideration of each application also involves an examination of the position of the applicant with regard to section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended, on the prohibition of refoulement.

The consideration of each application is a resource-intensive process for staff working in the Irish naturalisation and immigration service, INIS, of my Department, particularly when one considers that many applicants will, separately, have had asylum applications examined by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and may also have submitted applications for subsidiary protection. The Deputy will appreciate that this multi-layered approach to bringing individual cases to finality is not resource efficient. That is why a single procedure is envisaged in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008, which is currently before the House.

The sheer volume of such applications, and the reality that resources are not unlimited and must be prioritised, means that there will always be a backlog.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

However, the Deputy can rest assured that strenuous efforts have been and continue to be made to ensure that applications are processed as promptly as possible. Additional staff have been deployed to the area and considerable investment has been made in the development of technology required to support the processing of such applications.

The Deputy will appreciate that these efforts will enable the INIS, in the coming year, to make further significant progress in finalising leave to remain applications. I am satisfied also that the provisions set out in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 will greatly streamline the means by which applications of the nature referred to by the Deputy are processed to finality.

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