Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Question 334: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason a fee of €100 is being levied for Garda national immigration bureau cards in view of the fact that previously these cards were issued free of charge and in view of the fact that passports cost €75. [22679/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In line with international practice I introduced a fee for immigration registration certificates with effect from May 27 2006. The introduction of such a fee had been flagged both in the Immigration Act 2004, and in the discussion document containing the outline policy proposals for an Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill.

Non-EEA nationals who register with an immigration registration officer receive a secure residence document in the form of a Certificate of Registration (registration card). The provision of such high quality secure documents is an expensive process. The costs involved include the actual cost of the card itself which includes several security features (including a biometric chip), administrative work by registration officers in the form of checking of documentation and capture of registration details and a state-of-the-art computerised registration system operated by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB).

The State must provide the administrative resources and computer systems necessary to deal with the issuing of these residence documents and the practice internationally is to charge for the issuing of residence permits. Ireland has now introduced a similar charging system and the fee of €100 is in line with the amounts charged in other states.

I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that the Regulations which I have introduced provide for exemptions from payment of the fee. There are six categories of persons who are exempt from payment of the fee and these categories are as follows: Persons in respect of whom a declaration of refugee status under section 17 of the Refugee Act 1996 is in force (Convention Refugees); Persons who have been reunified with such refugees under section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996; Programme refugees within the meaning of section 24 of the Refugee Act 1996; Persons who are under 18 years of age at the time of registration; Spouses of Irish citizens; Dependants of EU nationals who receive a residence permit under EU Directive 38/04.

The vast majority of the remaining categories of non-EEA nationals registered in Ireland will be resident on the basis that they are working, studying or self-sufficient. Such persons have been granted residency on the basis that they would be able to support themselves and would not be a burden on the State's resources. For such a person who has indicated that he/she has sufficient funds to reside in Ireland without becoming a burden on the State, the payment of €100, typically once a year, should not be too onerous considering that it works out as costing less than €2 per week.

It should also be noted that not all applicants will have to pay the fee on a yearly basis. Each individual will be charged for the issue of the registration certificate regardless of the certificate's duration, so in effect if a person is entitled to be registered for more than one year, he/she will still only have to pay a fee of €100 for this certificate.

In relation to the Deputy's point regarding the cost of passports, I would like to clarify that the issuance and cost of Irish passports is a matter which falls under the remit of the Department of Foreign Affairs and not that of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.