Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 125: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of people who were refused asylum or leave to remain here since 1992; the costs involved in the processing of such decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13302/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The information sought by the Deputy in regard to the number of applications for asylum which were refused since 1992 is set out in tabular format below.

In regard to Leave to Remain, I am assuming 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.

An application for Leave to Remain in the State in these circumstances arises where a non-national is served with a notice of intent to deport under section 3 (3) (a) of the Immigration Act, 1999. A person served with such a notice of intent to deport is afforded three options, viz. to leave the State voluntarily; to consent to the making of a Deportation Order; or to make representations in writing within 15 working days setting out reasons as to why a Deportation Order should not be made and why temporary Leave to Remain in the State be granted instead.

Leave to remain, outside that granted on the grounds of parentage of an Irish born child or marriage to an Irish or EU national, is considered in the context of deciding whether or not to deport a non-national.

In determining whether to make a deportation order or grant temporary leave to remain in the State, I must have regard to the eleven factors set out in Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended, and Section 5 (Prohibition of Refoulement) of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended.

Temporary leave to remain is considered in every case regardless of whether representations are made by, or on behalf of, the persons concerned. Statistics are not maintained in a way which distinguishes between those who have made an application for leave to remain and those who have not. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that many of those who failed the asylum process, and who did not opt to return voluntarily or consent to deportation, nonetheless left the State before a decision to deport or grant leave to remain was made.

The Department's expenditure for the years 2000-2006 on its asylum and immigration functions is shown below.

The Department's provisional costs in 2006 were €139.89m for asylum and immigration services including the cost of accommodation for asylum seekers.

Included in the Department's expenditure is the total cost of running the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration service (INIS), including processing of visa and citizenship applications and the operation of the repatriation process, as opposed to specifically the administration of the asylum determination process. Since 2004, INIS has reassigned approximately 120 staff from the asylum determination process to providing mainstream frontline services such as visa processing, citizenship and general immigration functions. The 2006 cost also includes expenditure on elements of a suite of information technology for projects which will improve efficiently and customer service in asylum and immigration processed once completed.

Significantly, the cost of providing accommodation services to asylum seekers in 2006 was almost €6m below the equivalent cost in 2005; i.e. €78m as opposed to €84m.

The overall cost to the Exchequer of providing services in 2006 (across all Government Departments) to asylum seekers and immigrants more generally is not yet available.