Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 66: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if there are plans to review the procedures used for the issuing and execution of deportation orders, in view of his decision to revoke the deportation order in respect of Mr. Olukunle Elukanlo; if the file in respect of this case had been read by him prior to the signing of a deportation order; if files in general are read by him prior to signing deportation orders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10943/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In my statement to the Dáil during the Adjournment Debate on Tuesday, 22 March 2005, I dealt with the deportation of the person concerned. In my statement during the Adjournment Debate in Seanad Éireann on Thursday, 24 March 2005, I dealt with the basis of my decision to allow the person to return. The proposal put to me to deport this person was made in the belief of the proposing immigration service official that the order, when made, would not be implemented before June 2005, when the young man in question would be able to sit the leaving certificate examination for which he had been studying at Palmerstown Community School since September 2002.

As is usual regarding persons in respect of whom deportation orders have been made, this person was instructed to present himself to the Garda National Immigration Bureau on 3 March 2005. He did not do so and, consequently, was classified as an evader. He subsequently presented himself at the Garda National Immigration Bureau on the day of a deportation flight rather than on the earlier date specified in the letter sent to him. Consequently, he was arrested as an evader and deported. The officials involved in the deportation were acting in good faith. The assumption that he would not be deported before June 2005 was not acted on. While the deportation was authorised, its actual timing was unfortunate and I believed that to leave matters as they were was inappropriate.

It is important to understand the general procedures that apply to the execution of deportation orders. The execution of every deportation order made by me is an operational order by An Garda Síochána. It is the Garda's duty to enforce such orders in accordance with the law and it has never been my or my predecessors' practice to assume a direct role in operational matters for a good reason. Under the laws enshrined in the Immigration Act 1999, a person who is the subject of a deportation order is under a legal obligation to leave the State. However, compliance with the law in this regard is minimal and enforcement is necessary if the integrity of the asylum and immigration system is to be maintained. As the Supreme Court has acknowledged, failed asylum seekers do not have a right to remain in the State but these people are not snatched arbitrarily or suddenly off the streets. Before I make a deportation order, the person in question is given three options. He or she can leave the State voluntarily, consent to the making of a deportation order or make representations within 15 days as to why he or she should be allowed to remain in the State. Assistance regarding voluntary departure is underpinned by special programmes established in co-operation with IOM. For three years, up to 31 December 2004, 1,879 voluntary returns have been accommodated by IOM in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Regarding all files submitted to me containing recommendations for deportation, it is plainly necessary for officials to collate and summarise all relevant information in order to present it in a coherent and consistent format for me to consider. Almost without exception, this involves a summary of all available information on the facts, as set out in section 3(6) of the Immigration Act and in consideration of the refoulement issues and-or other significant issues relating to the case. A recommendation is then made to me by an officer at a grade not lower than assistant principal.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The entire file is then submitted to my office for a decision. It is brought from Burgh Quay to my office at St. Stephen's Green for that purpose. The volume of such files can be understood from the fact since January 2001, in the region of 10,200 deportation orders have been signed by me or my predecessor. During 2004, the number of individual cases varied from ten to 20 on each working day. This is a direct result of the Government's overall asylum processing strategies and the commitment of resources to this area and is likely to continue to increase in scale.

Deputies should be aware that litigation by way of judicial review proceedings is a regular consequence of deportation cases, with 361 such cases live at present.

In view of the volume of the deportation files it is clearly unrealistic to think it possible for me or any other Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to remember the precise details of every individual case. While, I have no recollection of reading the particular file to which the Deputy refers, my general practice is, in some cases, to read and consider the summary and, in other exceptional cases, to read and consider the entire file.

The approach outlined above is the only realistic way of dealing with the volume of cases fairly and efficiently and is in accordance with the Carltona principle which recognises that the whole system of departmental organisation and administration is based on the view that Ministers, being responsible to Parliament, will ensure that important duties are committed to experienced officials. In every case, I sign the deportation order and the order is made by the Minister as a matter of law. This approach is typical of that taken in Common Law countries where ministerial decisions are made in accordance with the Carltona principle.

Finally, I refer briefly to our asylum determination process. Some commentators have referred to the fact that asylum determinations take a considerable period of time to complete and that large numbers of people are in the asylum process for a long duration. This is no longer true. Huge progress has been made in the area of asylum processing over recent years following the huge investment by the Government in this area. The progress made to date is illustrated by both the general reduction in processing timescales in the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and the substantial reduction in the number of asylum applications on hands.

In terms of timescales, a new accelerated process has been introduced for prioritised asylum applications with a first instance decision provided by ORAC within an average of 13 working days and an appeal on the papers, where applicable, provided in some six working days by the RAT. At present prioritised cases comprise some 54% of all applications.

In relation to cases on hand, only 900 cases are in the asylum system for more than six months. This can be contrasted with the fact that there were some 6,500 cases over six months in the system in September 2001 and that some 25,000 asylum applications have been received in total in the State since January 2002. We can be justifiably proud of this result.

As I mentioned earlier, the Government has made a huge investment in this area and this expenditure ranges across several Departments.

Overall, in the region of €375 million was spent on asylum related services in 2004, a small proportion of which also relates to services provided for other non-nationals. This figure was compiled following consultations with range of Departments and offices which provide services to asylum seekers, namely, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, including the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, the Reception and Integration Agency and the Refugee Legal Service, the Departments of Social and Family Affairs, Health and Children, Education and Science, the Office of Public Works and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor.

This scale of investment leaves us with an asylum determination system which compares with the best in the world in terms of fairness, decision making, determination, structure and support services. It is also worth pointing out that it still remains a fact that over 90% of the applicants for asylum, after been through a system which is highly regarded internationally, including by the UNHCR, are found not to be in need of international protection.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for supplying me with all of this information but I would like him to answer my question. I asked him whether he is going to review the procedures used in issuing an execution of a deportation order, which he did not answer, and whether he had read the file himself prior to signing the deportation order regarding Mr. Olukunle Elukanlo. I also asked him whether in general files are read by him prior to signing deportation orders. I did not receive answers to any of those questions.

Would the Minister agree the process has become a debacle where he has been forced to do a U-turn regarding his oft-stated position that he would create precedents if he was to make any exceptions to his ruling? He has now very publicly and blatantly done a U-turn on this issue. What is the position regarding deportation orders now that the Minister has done this U-turn? We have people in Athlone, Monaghan and various other parts of the country who are looking for similar treatment to this young man.

Does the Minister agree it is not sufficient to say he issued a deportation order in the belief that the immigration service would not deport the young man before his examinations? Are members of the immigration service supposed to be mind readers? How were they to know that the Minister did not expect this young man to be deported before his examinations? Did the file contain anything that made it clear that he was not to be deported before his examinations? The Minister should let us know if it did. If the file did make it clear, the deportation would have breached the order that was issued.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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If I had sufficient time, I would have said that the files are brought to my office for consideration, with a summary attached to each file. The volume of such files can be understood from the fact that since January 2001, 10,200 deportation orders have been signed by me or my predecessor. In 2004, the number of individual cases varied from ten to 20 on each working day, which is the result of the Government's overall asylum processing strategies and the commitment of resources to the area. This is likely to increase in scale.

In light of the volume of deportations filed, it is unrealistic to think it possible that I or any other Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform could remember the precise details of every case. While I have no recollection of reading the file to which the Deputy refers, my general practice is to read and consider the summary of some cases or to read and consider the entire file in exceptional cases. The approach I have outlined is the only realistic way of dealing with the volume of cases fairly and efficiently. This is in accordance with the Carltona principle which recognises that the system of departmental organisation and administration is based on the view that Ministers responsible to Parliament will ensure that important duties are committed to experienced officials. The deportation order in every case is signed and made by the Minister as a matter of law. This approach is typical of those taken in common law countries where ministerial decisions are made in accordance with the Carltona principle.

The Deputy asked whether this will set a precedent for other cases. It will not. In this case, the proposing immigration officer noted in the file his expectation that the young man would be able to finish his leaving certificate and then leave. The subsequent sequence of events that happened was unlikely in that he did not attend an interview to inform him of this expectation when he was requested to and was marked as an evader. Once he was classified as such, he subsequently appeared on the day a flight was leaving and other officials who acted in good faith but were unaware of the expectations of the first official decided to arrest and deport him.

It was harsh to stand over his deportation under these circumstances. On consideration, I publicly said that I must take personal responsibility for these decisions. I make no apology for saying this but the other cases to which the Deputy refers have nothing to do with this particular sequence of highly unlikely and unpredictable events or their results.

Entire families come to Ireland seeking protection as refugees and apply for asylum. When they fail, they must be deported. The Deputy has advanced in this House that, where children are in education, the question of their deportations should be deferred until their education is finished.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Their secondary education.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Deputy Costello made this suggestion but if I were to follow his misconceived advice, 50% of the people involved would be able to avoid deportation according to the figures that are available to me.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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That is not true.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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There is another point that is of significance to this discussion. The cost of providing asylum services across several Departments in 2004 was €370 million. Of asylum seekers, 90% are not found to be entitled to protection from the State. There is a considerable amount of money and deployment of resources by the State. I intend to enforce the law and wish the Deputies to know that the people back me in my stance on this matter.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Will the Minister refrain from sending gardaí into classrooms within which youngsters are studying? Does he recognise that any non-nationals entitled to education here can only have this entitlement until they complete their second level education, otherwise it would not be free? The people we are speaking of would not be able to afford it. This is what I referred to and not education to third level as the Minister has indicated. Does the Minister admit that he only reads the summaries of many of the files that are placed on his desk?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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No. Between ten and 20 files per day on average are brought to my attention for decisions. Nearly all of them are summarised and it is my general practice to rely on the summary while having the entire file available to me in my office. I examine all the material in a minority of cases, some of which have files that are six inches thick, whenever I am in doubt or there is a particular matter raised.

The Deputy has raised this issue again, so I will reiterate that I am speaking about primary and secondary education. If I had a system wherein people with children of an age to be in primary or secondary education would be effectively immune from deportation until both educational cycles were completed, 50% of family asylum-seeking groups in Ireland would be exempt from deportation. This is not a practical——

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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That is not true.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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It is true. These are the figures that have been made available to me.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Will the Minister show me the figures?

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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We must proceed.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I asked for these figures and I was told by officials in my Department——

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The majority of the asylum seekers are dealt with under the category of Irish-born children, which the Minister is speaking about. He is effectively giving an amnesty to 20,000 people in this context. The others are a proportionately small number.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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That is not the case.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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It is the case.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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As I promised the House in the face of a measure of scepticism, I am dealing in a generous and humane way with all parents of Irish-born children. Approximately 18,000 applications to reside in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish-born child were made before the deadline of 31 March under the relevant scheme and that approximately 3,000 of that number have been granted leave to remain.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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That is where the children are.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy contradicts me but he is on the wrong ground. Of the family groups who seek asylum here and all of whose children are afforded education by the State, approximately 50% would be immune from deportation for up to ten years were I to accept the Deputy's point that all questions of deportation should be deferred until all the family's children have completed the two educational cycles. I am not willing to do this.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Will the Minister show me the figures?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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It is grossly irrational to expect a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to accept this as a way to conduct immigration policy.