Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1172: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the commission of crimes or breaches of the law here are factors taken into account in determining whether to grant refugee status. [1788/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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All applications for asylum in the State are processed in accordance with the provisions of the Refugee Act 1996 and in particular having due regard to the definition of a refugee in section 2 of that Act, which states that a refugee is: "a person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it". However, this definition does not include a person who: (i) has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes; (ii) has committed a serious non-political crime outside the State prior to his or her arrival in the State; or (iii) has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. The task, therefore, in the case of each individual asylum seeker, is to determine whether, following investigation, he or she is deemed to come within the terms of that definition on the basis of all the information provided and on the basis of comprehensive country of origin information drawn from independent sources, such as the UNHCR.

A person seeking the status of refugee in the State may apply to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform under section 8 of the 1996 Act for a declaration to the effect that such person is a refugee in accordance with the definition as outlined. As provided for in the 1996 Act, the investigation of individual applications is carried out by two independent offices, namely, at first instance, by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, ORAC, which makes a recommendation to the Minister as to whether an applicant should or should not be declared to be a refugee. An appeal by the applicant against a first instance recommendation is made to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, RAT, which may affirm or set aside the recommendation.

While the commission of crimes or breaches of the law in the State are not normally relevant to the asylum investigation by the two independent agencies, the issuing of a declaration by the Minister pursuant to a recommendation of ORAC or a decision of the RAT is governed by section 17 of the 1996 Act which, inter alia, provides for the Minister to take national security and public policy matters into account.