Chris Andrews (Dublin South East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 604: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of an application for residency for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 4; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30917/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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An application for residence in the State on the sole basis of marriage to an Irish national was received from the person in question in July 2007 and was acknowledged on 9 August 2007. Applications of this kind, in fairness to all other such applicants, are dealt with in strict chronological order and currently take up to twelve months to process. It should be noted that marriage to an Irish national does not confer an automatic right of residence in the State.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 605: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons who applied for leave to remain on humanitarian grounds in each year from 2000; the number who have been refused in each year; the number outstanding at the end of each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30926/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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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.

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. 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.

The total number of applications awaiting a decision for temporary Leave to Remain, as provided in my Reply to Dáil Question Nos. 515 and 516 on Tuesday 16 October 2007 to Deputy Denis Naughten, is 11,068. Of that number, 10,457 is the number of asylum cases which entered the Leave to Remain process, with these cases being at different stages of processing. 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. It is reasonable to presume that many of those listed as awaiting a decision on Leave to Remain have, in fact, left the jurisdiction.

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 refused temporary leave to remain in the State. When temporary leave to remain in the State is refused, deportation orders are then made in respect of the persons concerned. The majority of those in the table below would have been persons who were refused refugee status in the State.