Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 422: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of Irish born children of migrant parents, by category, including asylum seekers, whose parents have been refused residency and face deportation; the number of Irish born children remaining here whose parents have been deported; and the number of Irish born children who have been deported with their parents to their parent's country of origin, or to another country. [16034/06]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 423: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of Irish born and the number of non-Irish born children of migrant parents, including asylum seekers, who have been separated from their parents through either deportation or detention; the whereabouts of those children, that is, in State care, foster homes, with friends or family; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16035/06]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 424: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the efforts which have been made to determine and monitor the welfare and safety of Irish born children of migrant parents, including asylum seekers, who have been refused residency and returned to their parents' country of origin; and if the children will have access to consular services and protection. [16036/06]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 425: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if it is ascertained and procedures put in place to ensure that an Irish born child of migrant parents, including asylum seekers, who have been refused residency and deported, will not be discriminated against or made to suffer or face deportation as a non-citizen of the parents' country of origin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16037/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 422 to 425, inclusive, together.

In January, 2005 I announced a scheme whereby the non-national parents of children born in Ireland before 1 January, 2005 could apply for leave to remain in the State based on their parentage of those children. This so-called IBC(05) Scheme and its terms and conditions were widely advertised and its closing date was 31 March, 2005. That scheme followed from the Citizenship Referendum in 2004 and the passing by the Oireachtas of the Immigration and Citizenship Act, 2004, the effect of which is that children born to non-nationals from 1 January, 2005 no longer enjoy an automatic right to citizenship.

Under the IBC(05) Scheme, 16,693 non-nationals were granted leave to remain on the basis of their parentage of children born in Ireland before 1 January, 2005. The Scheme was a generous response by the State to the situation of those non-national parents of children born before 1 January, 2005. Refusal decisions were given in 1,119 cases: a breakdown of the reasons for the refusal of these applications is shown in the Table following the answer.

In the period between 18 July 2003 and 12 October, 2004, 384 deportation orders were made in respect of parents of Irish Born Children, of whom 41 were deported. This period was the interregnum between the L&O Judgement of the Supreme Court in January, 2003 which, inter alia, stated that parents of Irish Born children could be deported and the initiation of the IBC(05) Scheme by me in January, 2005. It should be made clear that Irish citizen children cannot be deported and statistics are not maintained as to the number of Irish Born Children who accompany their parents, who are the subject of deportation orders, to their country of origin. There have been a small number of cases where parents of children, who themselves are the subject of Deportation Orders, have refused to cooperate with members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) in locating some, or all, of their children prior to their deportations. I am informed that the Garda National Immigration Bureau make every reasonable effort on the day of removals to maintain the unity of families. However, this clearly cannot be done if parents refuse to cooperate with the Gardaí in locating the whereabouts of all of their children. As a result, the Gardaí have, in a small number of instances, had to proceed to enforce Deportation Orders in the face of some parents refusing to disclose the whereabouts of some or all of their children. It is understood that such children, where hidden from Gardaí, are passed into the care of other local non-nationals by their mothers. Where this occurs, the Garda National Immigration Bureau inform the local area Health Services Executive of the position in relation to these children. Those persons who care for children left behind by their parents should make themselves known to the authorities and every facility would be made available to enable the children to be reunited with their families in their countries of origin.

As to how many of the children in question are in the care of the State e.g. foster homes, this information is not held by my Department and the matter should instead be raised with the Health Services Executive.

The Garda Síochána is tasked with the execution of Deportation Orders. All persons subject to such Orders are required to present at Garda stations for the purpose of arranging their removal from the State. In enforcing these Orders it is a priority, as far as operationally possible, that family units which are the subject of such Orders are kept together. When some parents are deported in the absence of some, or all, of their children, it is as a consequence of a deliberate choice by the persons concerned that they become separated from their children.

The Deputy should note also that children are not sent back with their parents to the parents' country of origin where no right of residency for those children exists in that country. For example, any child of Nigerian parents (i.e the largest nationality group of asylum-seekers) is a Nigerian national by virtue of its parentage regardless of where he/she is born and is consequently entitled to reside with his/her parents in their country of origin following deportation. Given that such children will have an entitlement to citizenship in the State of their parent(s) it is not my intention to monitor the welfare of such children following their return to that country and the question of Ireland's consular services being available to such persons would arise in only the most exceptional of circumstances.

For the sake of completeness and to give appropriate context to the questions being raised, a fundamental point underpinning this issue is that most of the parents of such children were only allowed into the State in the first instance for the purposes of claiming asylum. In light of the comprehensive nature of this State's refugee status determination processes, I am satisfied that the asylum claims advanced by all asylum seekers are fully examined in every individual case, having due regard for the merits of each specific case. Equally, I am satisfied that the provisions of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended) and Section 5 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended) provide safeguards to ensure that no person is returned to their country of origin, including children being returned to their parents' country of origin, where it would be unsafe to effect such a return.

The Deputy should also note that, in determining whether to make a Deportation Order or to grant temporary Leave to Remain in the State to a failed asylum applicant and his/her dependent children, Irish born or otherwise, I must have regard for the eleven factors set out in Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended). I must also have regard for the provisions of Section 5 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended) on the Prohibition of Refoulement before signing a Deportation Order. This means in essence that the safety of returning a person to their country of origin, or refoulement as it is commonly referred to, is fully considered in every case when deciding whether or not to make a Deportation Order. Refoulement means that a person shall not be expelled from the State or returned in any manner whatsoever to a State where, in my opinion, the life or freedom of that person would be threatened on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. My Department uses extensive country of origin information drawn from different independent sources, including the UNHCR, in evaluating, in each individual case, the safety of making returns to third countries.