John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 676: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of foreign nationals deported to Nigeria on a chartered flight on 14 March 2005; the average time each had spent in the State; the numbers arriving on a monthly basis seeking asylum; the average length of time it takes to process an application for asylum; the average length of time it takes to decide on an appeal to stay in the State on humanitarian grounds; the number of cases in each year over the past three years that have been successful in each process; the number of applicants in each process for over four years; the steps taken since 2000 to bring about greater efficiency, transparency and fairness in the process; when a comprehensive immigration policy will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10209/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Garda national immigration bureau removed a total of 35 Nigerian nationals on a charter flight to Lagos on the night of 14-15 March 2005. The persons concerned were mainly former asylum seekers who had their claims for refugee status refused after full consideration by one or both of the two independent statutory offices established to consider such applications namely, the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.

Their cases were further considered individually under section 3(6) of the Immigration Act, 1999 as amended, and section 5, prohibition of refoulemet, of the Refugee Act,1996, before deportation orders were made in respect of each. The length of time each deportee spent in the State was one of 11 factors considered under section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, in arriving at the decision to deport.

The years in which each of the deportees arrived in the State and claimed asylum are as follows:

The number of persons who claimed asylum in the State last year was 4,766 representing an average monthly figure of just under 400. The figures for the first three months of this year are as follows: January, 393; February, 377; and March, 489.

The table below shows the number of persons granted refugee status and temporary leave to remain in the State in the last three years:

It is difficult to estimate a mean average waiting time for appeals to remain in the State on humanitarian grounds following a refusal of a claim for refugee status. In the context of proposed deportation orders under the Immigration Act 1999, the issue of leave to remain on humanitarian grounds is considered, irrespective of whether an application is made or not. Thus, no statistics are retained on the number of such applications made. Others subsequently received permission to remain on other grounds e.g. marriage to Irish or EU national. Further, it is believed that a significant number of persons who were refused refugee status are entitled to claim residency under the scheme announced by me in January, 2005 in respect of parents of Irish born children born before 1 January 2005. The closing date for this scheme was 31 March 2005 and just under 18,000 applications have been received. When the applications have been fully processed, a more accurate analysis of the situation will be available.

In respect of the number of applications in the asylum and repatriation process over four years, I am advised that in so far as the asylum process is concerned only one such application exists in the ORAC and none in the RAT. I am informed that the ORAC case has been the subject of legal proceedings which have now been completed and it is expected to be disposed of shortly. An accurate figure is not readily available for the repatriation area.

Regarding the efficiency, transparency and fairness of the asylum process, since 2000 the Government has established a comprehensive legislative and organisational framework for the processing of asylum applications. This includes the enactment of the Immigration Act 2003, amending the Refugee Act 1996, to streamline the asylum determination process so as to ensure that those genuinely in need of refugee protection receive that protection more quickly and to deal in a more robust manner with unfounded applications for refugee status. It also includes the establishment of three separate offices to deal with all aspects of asylum applications from initial decision to appeal and to co ordinate accommodation and other support needs of asylum seekers. The offices in question are the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and the Reception and Integration Agency. In addition, the Refugee Legal Service has been set up to provide legal advice to asylum applicants.

Other services provided to underpin the efficiency, transparency and fairness of our asylum process include comprehensive translation and interpretation services, staff training overseen by the UNHCR and country of origin research supported, as required, by the refugee documentation centre.

The operation of the repatriation process is governed by the Immigration Act 1999 which was further amended by the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 in respect of the arrest, detention and removal of non-nationals.

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 non-nationals. This figure was compiled following consultations with a range of Departments and offices which provide services to asylum seekers, namely, the Departments 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 Department of Social and Family Affairs, Health and Children and Education and Science, the Office of Public Works and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor.

However, it still remains a fact that over 90% of the applicants for asylum, after a fair and transparent determination process, are found not to be in need of refugee protection. Arising from the substantial level of investment which I have just outlined, significant progress has been made in the area of asylum processing over recent years. 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 for processing asylum applications, I would point out that on 24 January 2005, I announced new arrangements for the speedier processing of prioritised applications which were implemented with effect from 25 January. The new arrangements apply in the main to nationals of Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and South Africa. At present, these applications comprise some 54% of all applications. These new arrangements include the reduction of processing timescales both at the initial stage in ORAC from six weeks to approximately three weeks, and for appeal determinations in RAT from an average of five weeks to three weeks. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that as the operation of the new arrangements has progressed, these anticipated processing timescales have in fact been reduced with an ORAC decision being made within an average of 13 working days and a decision of the RAT issuing within 6.3 working days.

For other cases, the typical processing time in the ORAC is in the region of six months. The average length of time taken to process and complete substantive appeals in the RAT is approximately 16 weeks and appeals which are determined on the basis of papers alone are completed in five to six weeks.

As regards cases on hand, I can inform the Deputy that 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.

Since April 2000, over 36,000 applicants have been accommodated directly by the State under direct provision arrangements. Almost 700 staff has been recruited across the asylum and immigration system, representing the biggest influx of staff in any area of the civil service in decades.

The installation of a new and improved management information system in the repatriation unit of my Department is nearing completion. When fully up and running this will facilitate better tracking and management of repatriation cases. In the case of the processing of applications covered by the accelerated asylum arrangements to which I have just referred, a processing time of eight weeks is in place from the receipt of a negative decision on refugee status to the point of determining whether the person should be deported or granted temporary leave to remain in the State.

Despite some uninformed criticism of the asylum and immigration systems, I am satisfied that our system of determination compares favourably with the best in the world in terms of fairness, decision making, determination structures and support services. I believe that the vast majority of people recognise this and have confidence in the system. The system is also subject to due process and the supervision of courts. It is open to a person to challenge a negative decision any way along the process by way of an application for judicial review to the High Court.

I have indicated on a number of occasions recently that I propose to produce a discussion paper on immigration legislation in preparation for the proposed immigration and residence Bill which I intend to publish later this year. As the Deputy will by now be aware, the discussion document has just today been published. Copies of the document have already been circulated to all of the Members of the Oireachtas.