Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 180: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has examined the difficulties facing aged-out non-Irish minors who have applied for leave to remain here; his plans to address the cases of the relatively small number of persons in these circumstances who wish to continue making a contribution to Irish society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35980/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I refer the Deputy to the reply I gave to Question No. 61 on Thursday 20 October 2005. A total of 413 unaccompanied minors, who have now reached the age of 18 years, have been refused refugee status since 1 January 1999. A total of 211 of these have been decided to date under section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, resulting in 108 deportation orders, 72 grants of conditional leave to remain under the Irish born child scheme, 2005, eight grants of temporary leave to remain on other grounds, seven voluntary returns, three grants of residency under family reunification, four grants of residency under marriage to an Irish national and six grants of residency under EU treaty rights. Two individuals subsequently became EU nationals on 1 May 2004 and one individual is deceased. The remaining 202 cases have yet to be considered by me.

There is no catch all policy — be it to deport or allow to remain — in relation to unaccompanied minors who have reached the age of 18 years. All such cases will continue to be considered on their individual merits.