Dáil debates
Thursday, 5 May 2005
Adjournment Debate.
Deportation Orders.
4:00 pm
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to ensure that no asylum seeker who is sitting an Irish State examination this summer will be issued with a deportation order or deported during the examination period.
The Minister should ensure that no unaccompanied minor or asylum seeker who is due to sit State examinations here should be issued with a deportation order or actually deported. I also want the Minister to state that such students should not have to sign on at the Garda national immigration bureau in Burgh Quay until their examinations are over. Otherwise, anybody who is being threatened with deportation or the likelihood of deportation would have to sign on at the bureau now and in June.
State examinations are stressful enough at the best of times but the threat of arrest and deportation while young people are studying for or sitting examinations is absolutely intolerable.
Recently, the Minister allowed a young man, Olunkunle Eluhanla, to return from Nigeria to complete his leaving certificate examinations. The Minister admitted making a mistake and said that Mr. Eluhanla should not have been deported in the circumstances. The Minister should now follow this action with its logical counterpart, namely that anybody planning to sit examinations shortly should be free to study and sit those examinations without fear of gardaí knocking on their doors at home or in the classroom, or being arrested and detained when they report to the Garda national immigration bureau.
In Mr. Eluhanla's case, the Minister said the immigration bureau had noted on the deportation document that the fact the student was going to sit an examination should be taken into consideration. That note was left unheeded, however. A publicly declared policy statement is now required from the Minister so there is no danger of it being misinterpreted or going unheeded and another such mistake being made. That is a logical deduction given what the Minister has already declared about the case of the young Nigerian whom he allowed to return in order to sit the leaving certificate examination. It should be made clear that no one currently studying for the junior or leaving certificate examinations in June will be deported between now and the start of the examinations, or during the examinations.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell. Before dealing with the substance of this matter, I need to make it clear that no asylum seeker will be, or ever has been, deported. In its express terms, Deputy Costello's motion addresses the Minister on the need to ensure that no asylum seeker who is sitting an Irish State examination this summer will be issued with a deportation order or deported during the examination period. Of course, it is impossible for the Minister to deport an asylum seeker, which is a fundamental point in terms of this matter.
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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That is not true because they are still asylum seekers when the final order is being issued. They are just waiting to see whether they will be allowed to stay.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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No, that is not correct. I will bring the Deputy through the details of the matter. Asylum seekers are persons who come here seeking refugee status. Their asylum claims are thoroughly investigated and if they are found not to be in need of protection under the Geneva Convention they are no longer asylum seekers.
5:00 pm
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Furthermore, before any deportation takes place, they are given an opportunity to go home voluntarily or to give reasons why they should not be deported. The suggestion that they can still give reasons why they should not be deported does not relate to their character as failed asylum seekers. There are two fundamental underlying principles with regard to the asylum process, and the treatment of individuals, who are not found to be refugees at the end of that process, when asylum seekers come here and seek our protection that their cases are fairly and independently examined. A deportation process, after a person's case has been dealt with fairly, is central to the proper running of an immigration and asylum system.
The definition of a refugee is set out in section 2 of the Refugee Act 1996. I do not propose to go through the entire definition but it is clear that the task in the case of each individual asylum seeker is to determine whether, following investigation, he or she is deemed to come within the terms of that definition on the basis of all the information which is gleaned.
Under the Refugee Act 1996, two statutory offices were established to consider applications or appeals in respect of refugee status and make recommendations to the Minister on whether such status should be granted. These offices are the Refugee Applications Commissioner and Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Every asylum applicant is guaranteed an investigation and a determination of his or her claim at first instance by the Refugee Applications Commissioner and a right of appeal to a statutorily independent and separate body, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Every asylum applicant is also guaranteed access to legal assistance provided by the refugee legal service.
The final decision in respect of an asylum application is a matter for the Minister based on the recommendation of the commissioner. However, under the legislative scheme of things, the Minister is obliged, save in exceptional circumstances, to accept such a recommendation. When the Minister makes a decision under the provision of section 17(1) to refuse to give a declaration of refugee status to an individual, notification is sent to the individual who is informed that three options are open to him or her. He or she may voluntarily leave the State, consent to a deportation order being issued in respect of him or her——
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I want an answer, not a lecture, from the Minister of State.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The wording of the matter raised by the Deputy is erroneous.
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The Minister of State's response to my contribution is irrelevant.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It is highly relevant. If an individual consents to a deportation order being issued in respect of him or her, arrangements will be made for his or her removal from the State. The third option available to him or her is to make written representations, within 15 working days, setting out reasons he or she should be allowed to remain temporarily in the State.
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Every time I table a question or raise a matter, I receive the same lecture.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I will not take the Deputy through the various statutory factors the Minister must consider. Leaving aside the mistaken reference to asylum seekers being deported, I presume the substance of the issue raised by the Deputy is that persons sitting a State examination this summer would neither be issued with a deportation order nor deported prior to the examination taking place. The wording of the matter is a variation of a matter raised by the Deputy on the Adjournment on 22 March when he asked that we do not deport the schoolgoing children of non-national parents who are facing deportation——
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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It is a different issue.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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An asylum seeker cannot be deported.
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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This has no connection with the matter I raised on 22 March as it relates to a much broader issue.
Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Allow the Minister of State to continue without interruption.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The earlier debate arose from circumstances the Deputy referred to, namely, the deportation to Nigeria in mid-March of a young man who was to sit his leaving certificate examination in Palmerstown community college next month. Although it has been the policy of successive Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform not to reveal the personal details of the cases of individual applicants for asylum, in light of the widespread media reporting at the time I will refer to the case in question as the Kunle case.
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister reversed his decision in the Kunle case on its unique facts and allowed the young man concerned to return to sit his leaving certificate examinations. I refer Deputies to the Minister's response to the Seanad Adjournment debate of 25 March 2005 on the matter.
A general policy not to deport schoolgoing persons leading up to examination periods cannot be inferred from the decision in the Kunle case. I ask Deputies to consider what would be the consequences of such a policy. In effect, no person in any form of State education and, by implication, none of his or her family members could be deported from the State for a considerable part of the year. Further, the logic of such a policy would be that a person at any point in the education system leading up to an exam could not be deported.
Deputies should bear in mind that a substantial number of asylum seekers are of an age when they are likely to be engaged in the State education system where examinations of one sort or another are a common feature. For example, of the 7,900 asylum applicants in 2003, almost 1,100 were accompanied minors between the ages of four and 18 years. Similarly, of the 4,766 asylum applicants in 2004, more than 700 were accompanied minors between the ages of 4 and 18 years. To give a guarantee that none of those persons — and again, by implication, his or her siblings and parents — would be deported or even issued with deportation orders during a substantial part of the year would be irresponsible. It would send out a message to the world that Ireland had an obligation to provide an education, including the right to sit examinations, to those who, having been found not to be in need of international protection, had otherwise no right to be in the State.
Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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No provision is made for questions during the Adjournment debate.
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I asked the Minister of State whether individuals who are due to sit State examinations will be deported between now and the examinations and received six pages of waffle in reply.