Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 522: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will confirm, in relation to non-nationals who entered here on or before 31 December 2002, and who applied for asylum here, or on whose behalf an application for asylum here was made, the number of such persons in respect of whom he has made no decision under section 17 of the Refugee Act 1996; the number who have been refused asylum but have applied for leave to remain on humanitarian grounds and whose application in that regard has yet to be decided; the number who have been refused leave to remain on humanitarian grounds but in respect of whom deportation orders have not been served; the number on whom deportation orders have been served but deportation has not been effected; and the number under each of the above headings, where relevant, whose whereabouts are no longer known to him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32750/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The provisions of Section 17 of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended, came into effect on 20 November 2000, the date on which the two independent refugee determination bodies, the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, were established on a statutory basis. Therefore, statistics relating to decisions made pursuant to that section of the Act are provided as and from that date. By way of clarification, decisions relate to decisions made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to grant or refuse a declaration of refugee status, based on the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner or, as the case may be, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Decisions about asylum applications are recorded by reference to the date of the decision or recommendation rather than the date of application.

Table 1 sets out the position on asylum applications made each year up to 31 December 2002.

As of 31 October 2005, a total of 15 applications for asylum made prior to 31 December 2002 have yet to have recommendations made by the Refugee Applications Commissioner, in accordance with Section 13 of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. On the same date, there were 105 appeals outstanding where the initial asylum application date was on or before 31 December 2002. The delay in dealing with the cases in question arises in the main from judicial review proceedings taken by these applicants. A further small number of cases have not been finalised by the Department's ministerial decisions unit owing to security or other legal issues arising in the context of such applications.

In determining whether to make a deportation order or grant temporary leave to remain in the State, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform must have regard to the eleven factors set out in section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, and section 5 (Prohibition of Refoulement) of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. The figures in the following table refer to persons who were considered for deportation but were instead granted temporary leave to remain in the State for an initial period of one year. The majority of these would have been persons who were refused refugee status in the State.

The figures in the table do not include persons who have been granted permission to remain in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish-born child either under the revised scheme announced in January 2005 or under the earlier arrangements, or those granted residency on the basis of marriage to Irish or EU nationals. In the case of the 2005 Irish-born child scheme, a total of 17,877 applications for leave to remain were received of which, as of 2 November 2005, 15,075 have been granted. In relation to the earlier arrangements whereby parents of Irish-born children were granted leave to remain in the State, in the period from 1996 to 19 February 2003, a further 10,584 persons were granted such leave with more than 8,000 of those persons having been asylum seekers.

Table 4 sets out the number of deportation orders and transfer orders signed in each of the years since 2000. By way of clarification, transfer orders relate to cases where individual asylum applicants were transferred to another European state, in accordance with the provisions of EC Regulation No. 343/2003 and No. 1560/2003 which replaced the Dublin Convention in September 2003, for the purposes of having their asylum claims determined in that state.

The Deputy might also note that most, but not all, persons subject to deportation orders came through the asylum process. Persons who are illegally present or become illegally present in the State, for example by overstaying their visas, are also the subject of such orders.

Table 5 sets out the number of deportation orders and transfer orders effected each year since 2000.

Temporary leave to remain is considered in the context of the deportation process and is granted where it is decided not to make a deportation order. It is considered regardless of whether representations have been made by, or on behalf of, the person concerned. Consequently, records are not maintained which would distinguish the number of cases where representations have been received from those where no representations have been made.

In relation to persons evading deportation, the number of such persons on our records is approximately 6,500. While it is impossible to put an exact figure on the number of persons evading deportation whose whereabouts are unknown, it is believed that a large number of those evading have already left the State of their own accord.

In the interests of providing a complete picture of the final outcomes of asylum applications, the Deputy might wish to note that to date 2,812 persons have been facilitated to return voluntarily to their countries of origin. Persons availing of this facility would not have been the subject of deportation orders. In many cases their travel arrangements have been arranged and paid for by the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, which has been engaged by my Department to provide practical assistance in this regard.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 523: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum applicants that have been granted leave to remain on humanitarian grounds each year for the past five years and the number to date. [32821/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In determining whether to make a deportation order or grant temporary leave to remain in the State, I must have regard to the 11 factors set out in section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, and section 5 (Prohibition of Refoulement) of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. The figures in the following table refer to persons who received notification of intention to deport under section 3(b)(ii) of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, but were subsequently granted temporary leave to remain in the State for an initial period of one year. The majority of these would have been persons who were refused refugee status in the State.

The figures in the table do not include persons who have been granted permission to remain in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish-born child either under the revised scheme announced in January 2005 or under the earlier arrangements, or those granted residency on the basis of marriage to Irish or EU nationals. Many of these persons would otherwise have been considered for leave to remain in the context of the deportation system described. For example, in the case of the Irish-born child scheme initiated in January of this year, a total of 17,877 applications for leave to remain were received of which, as of 2 November 2005, 15,075 have been granted.