Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The landlord and tenant Bill is due in the middle of next year. The immigration Bill that was moving through the legislative process, and to which many amendments were proposed, will not proceed any further. It will be replaced by the international protection Bill, the principal purpose of which will be to reform the international protection, or asylum, system here in Ireland through the introduction of a single application procedure whereby all elements of a person's application to be permitted to remain in this country will be dealt with in one process. The Bill will comply with the UN refugee convention and the related EU directives. The Deputy will be aware that international protection can be offered to a person who is eligible for refugee protection on the basis of a well-founded fear of persecution in his or her country of origin, or to a person who is eligible for subsidiary protection on the basis of a real risk of suffering serious harm if he or she were to be returned to his or her country of origin. This is a complex issue, as Deputy Adams is well aware. The asylum process in many countries fails because there is no definite period in which a person's application for asylum in a specific country is dealt with one way or another. In many cases, an asylum seeker who went to a country for a period of time is still there 20 or 25 years later without a determination having been made. I would say it will probably be the middle of next year before the international protection Bill is published. It will deal with the principal issues by providing for a single application procedure and complying with the UN refugee convention and the EU directives. It is hoped that it will bring a sense of clarity and certainty to the process. I am conscious of the case that was decided in the High Court by Mr. Justice Mac Eochaidh. whose complex and lengthy judgment needs to be studied carefully.

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