Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to reassure the Deputy and repeat what I said yesterday that my Department has taken and will continue to take a pragmatic approach and most importantly a compassionate approach to immigration arrangements in the context of Covid-19. The approach to deportation orders will continue for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A decision to suspend the issuing of negative international protection decisions during level 5 restrictions had already been taken and this remains in place. Under the International Protection Act 2015, a person receives a letter informing him or her of his or her negative international protection decision and informing that person that he or she no longer has permission to remain in the State. The person is required to confirm within five days whether he or she will accept the option of voluntary return. It is important to note the person is not required to remove him or herself from the State within five days.

For the duration of level 5 Covid-19 restrictions, I asked my officials to review the issuing of letters. No refusal letters or letters enclosing a deportation order have issued to anyone who has been unsuccessful in seeking international protection since.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020, there have only been four cases where individuals have been deported from the State. Three of those cases arose from deportation orders issued prior to March 2020. For the one case where the deportation order was issued since March 2020, that person was returned to their country and was not a failed international protection applicant.

For those found not to be in need of international protection, a detailed consideration is always given to all aspects of their case. This must be carried out before a decision is made whether to grant permission to remain. While I will not go into details of individual cases here, there is a very clear process. I urge anybody applying through that process to provide as much detail as possible. All considerations are taken into account - family situations, work situations, humanitarian situations and their country of origin. All this detail is really important. When making an appeal, including in the cases the Deputy has mentioned, such people should provide all that information along with any new information that may have come to light that might not have been taken into account in the initial response.

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