Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 484: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum applications made each year from 1990 to date in 2006; the number of applications that were not successful; the reason for same; the processing period for an asylum application; the number of applications awaiting a decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25027/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The information requested by the Deputy is set in the following Tabular Statement.

Statistics are not maintained regarding the specific grounds for granting or refusing refugee status. All applications are considered in line with the provisions of the Refugee Act 1996. Section 2 of the Act defines a refugee, subject to stated exclusions, as 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.

With effect from 1 November 2005, all applicants for asylum are notified of their interview date by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) at the time they make their applications. The interview appointment is normally within 20 working days of application. However, for those applicants within the prioritised category, interviews in ORAC are held more speedily, within 9 to 12 days. Consideration of these applications by ORAC is normally completed within a further 5 to 8 working days giving an average processing time of 17 working days from the date of application.

In respect of non-prioritised applications, the interview date is normally within 4 to 5 weeks of the application date. Consideration of the application by ORAC is normally completed within a further 4 weeks giving a total processing time of approximately 8 to 9 weeks from the date of application.

The average length of time taken by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT) to process and complete substantive appeals received in 2005 was approximately 14 weeks. However, this period was considerably shorter in respect of certain appeals which received priority or where an oral hearing was not required. In respect of these cases processing times were 3 to 5 weeks. At the end of May 2006 there were 2,723 cases on hand with ORAC and RAT. Only 581 of these applications were over six months old as compared to some 6,500 such applications at the end of September 2001.

Cases after 20 November 2000 were processed by ORAC and RAT.

Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 485: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of former asylum applicants who made application for permission to remain in lieu of asylum; the basis of their applications; the percentage of applications on the basis of parentage of an Irish born child; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25028/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I presume that the Deputy is referring to applications for Leave to Remain in the State made pursuant to Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended). The Deputy might wish to note that, in the main, such applications are made by persons whose asylum applications have been rejected.

An application for Leave to Remain in the State arises where a non-EU national is served with a notice of intent to deport under section 3 (3) (a) of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended). A person served with such a notice is afforded three options vis a vis their position in the State, namely to leave the State voluntarily, to consent to the making of a Deportation Order or to submit, within 15 working days, written representations setting out reasons as to why a Deportation Order should not be made and why permission to remain temporarily in the State should be granted.

In assessing whether to make a Deportation Order or to grant permission to remain temporarily in the State in each individual case, I must have regard for the eleven factors specified in Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended) and Section 5 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended) on the prohibition of refoulement. Permission to remain temporarily in the State is considered in every individual case regardless of whether written representations are submitted by, or on behalf of, the person(s) concerned. Statistics are not maintained in a way which distinguishes between those cases where such representations were submitted as opposed to those where no representations were submitted. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that many of those who failed the asylum process, and who did not opt to return voluntarily to their country of origin or consent to deportation, nonetheless left the State before a decision to deport or to grant permission to remain temporarily in the State was made.

The figures in the table below refer to persons who received notification of intention to deport under Section 3 (b) (ii) of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended) but were subsequently granted temporary leave to remain in the State for an initial period of one year. As stated earlier, the majority of these persons would have been rejected asylum seekers.

The figures in the table above do not include persons who have been granted permission to remain in the State on the basis of their parentage of an Irish Born Child either under the Revised Arrangements I announced in January 2005, or under the earlier arrangements, or those persons granted residency in the State on the basis of marriage to an Irish or E.U. National. Many of these persons would otherwise have been considered for permission to remain temporarily in the State in the context of the deportation system described above. For example, in the case of the Revised Arrangements relating to the Non-National Parents of an Irish Born Child born in the State before 1 January 2005 (the IBC/05 Scheme), a total of 17,917 applications were submitted with 16,693 having been approved.

The Deputy will appreciate that because of overlaps between those persons who applied for permission to remain temporarily in the State pursuant to the provisions of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended) and those who applied under the IBC/05 Scheme and earlier such arrangements, it would not be possible to provide percentage based comparisons between the two categories of persons. However, the Deputy can be assured that all applications made by persons seeking permission to remain temporarily in the State are carefully considered on their individual merits and having regard to all relevant criteria.