Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 183: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the meaning of "false passport" in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6; if the reference is in respect of different information sought by the immigration authorities; if his attention has been drawn to the serious health condition of the person; the interpretation of habitual residency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37495/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I refer the Deputy to the answer I gave to Question No. 146 on 20 October 2005. It is a fundamental requirement under the IBC/05 processing arrangements that each applicant submits a valid passport or national identity card as proof of identity. The passport submitted by the applicant in this case was referred to the Garda technical bureau for verification as to its authenticity. The advice from that bureau is that the passport was not genuine. The applicant was informed of this by letter dated 30 August 2005 and requested to submit a genuine passport. The applicant submitted a genuine passport on 21 September 2005.

However, the basis for the refusal of the person's application is her failure to meet the continuous residency criteria and the submission of the earlier invalid passport was not a factor in this regard. In this context it should also be noted that continuous rather than habitual residence is the criterion to be met. A number of matters have been raised by the applicant following the refusal of her application, including matters regarding her health, and these will be taken into account by me in the context of consideration of the file under the terms of section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 as amended.