Seanad debates
Thursday, 3 July 2003
Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages.
The question whether a finding listed in this subsection is to be included in the report only arises where, at the conclusion of the investigation, the commissioner's recommendation is negative. Thus, for example, the fact that an applicant did not apply as soon as reasonably practicable after arriving in the State and had no reasonable cause for applying late, as at paragraph (c), would not be relevant if the commissioner's investigation of the claim led to a positive recommendation that the applicant was a refugee and would not affect that positive recommendation. Findings of the type listed in the subsection form a basis for accelerating the hearing of the appeal only where a negative recommendation has been made by the commissioner. They are not necessarily a basis for a negative recommendation per se.Subsection (7) of the new section 13 enables the Minister to specify classes of applications to be dealt with at first instance by the commissioner under the special provisions of the new subsections (8) and (9). What is in mind here is that for a category of cases specified in a direction under this subsection there will be a special team of the staff of the Refugee Applications Commissioner dedicated to dealing with applications coming within this category within a matter of days of the application being made.
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