Seanad debates

Thursday, 30 January 2003

Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed).

 

10:30 am

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Amendment No. 24 questions whether Dublin Convention cases would warrant an oral hearing. If there are matters that need to be explored more fully at appeal, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which deals with these appeals, may, under article 7.5 of the Dublin Convention Implementation Order 2000, direct the commissioner to make such inquiries and to provide it with such further information as it considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of deciding an appeal. Applicants are transferred to a Dublin Convention country on foot of a deportation order which is made subject to the requirements of section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996. This is the obligation of non-refoulement.

To attempt to graft on to this process the notice provisions of section 3(3) of the Immigration Act 1999, as would be the effect of amendment No. 24, simply serves to delay the examination of the asylum claim. The person will not be returned to his or her country of origin, but will be transferred to a state where he or she will have his or her asylum application dealt with. The prolonged consideration of these cases serves no purpose and will only encourage abuse of the asylum process by those who engage in asylum shopping.

Under the Dublin Convention, if somebody is being moved from Ireland to another state, section 5 of the Act, which deals with non-refoulement, comes into effect. This is fundamentally a safety net preventing somebody from being seriously prejudiced by a radically different approach being taken to the issues of their claim in the other country. So the deportation order, which would be made and served in order to operate the Dublin Convention procedure, already takes into account the question as to whether they would be gravely prejudiced by the fact that they are being moved from one jurisdiction to another. To have an oral hearing in those circumstances is not necessary, particularly when the tribunal can ask the commissioner to carry out any further investigations if it considers the material before it is inadequate to decide on the matter.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Government amendment No. 21:

In page 6, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following paragraph:

"(c) in section 24, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6):

'(7) (a) The Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, enter into agreements with the High Commissioner for the reception and resettlement in the State of refugees.'.".

Amendment agreed to.

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