Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 305: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the circumstances regarding a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36976/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Provision is made in section 4 of the Immigration Act, 2004 for an Immigration Officer to authorise a non-national to land in the State. However section 4(3) enumerates fourteen circumstances in which an Immigration Officer may, on behalf of the Minister, refuse to give a person permission to land in the State. The circumstances, any one of which may give rise to a permission to land being refused, include, the fact that there is reason to believe that the non-national intends to enter the State for purposes other than those expressed by the non-national. In performing his or her functions under the Immigration Act, 2004, an Immigration Officer is obliged, pursuant to the provisions of the Act, to have regard to all the circumstances of the non-national concerned known to the officer or represented to the officer by him or her.

I have been informed by the Immigration Division of my Department that the Garda National Immigration Bureau dealt with the person referred to by the Deputy in accordance with these provisions. The person referred to presented at Dublin Airport on Friday 29th August 2008 seeking permission to enter the State pursuant to section 4 of the Immigration Act 2004. He produced a Travel Document issued under the Geneva Convention of 1951 indicating that he was a person who holds refugee status in Germany and that he was a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As such he is permitted to enter the State without a visa only if he is a visitor for a period not exceeding 90 days. A visa is required for any other purpose. The person is also subject to examination under section 4 of the Immigration Act 2004 and must comply with the criteria set out in the Statute in order to qualify for a permission to enter the State.

I have been advised that at no stage during this process did the person claim to be a German citizen. On examination, the person sought permission to enter the State to visit a friend. However he did not know the name or address of the friend. He supplied the Immigration Officer with a telephone number for his friend. When contact was made with this telephone number a female stated that the person was her brother, who was living in Germany, but that she did not know his name. She declined to identify herself to the Immigration Officer.

The person was, accordingly, refused permission to enter the State, pursuant to section 4(3)(k) of the Immigration Act, 2004, as there was reason to believe that he intended to enter the State for reasons other than those expressed by him. He was then removed from the State on the first available flight to the Airport at which his journey originated, namely Karlsruhe-baden in Germany, on Sunday the 31st August 2008. In the intervening period the person was detained in a prescribed place for the purpose of the Immigration Acts, namely Cloverhill Prison.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 306: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a review will be undertaken in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick who has been issued with a deportation order; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36977/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to the Reply I gave to Parliamentary Question No. 905 on Wednesday 24 September 2008. The status of the person concerned remains as set out in that Reply. The person concerned has continued to meet his presentation requirements with the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). He is due to present again shortly. The enforcement of the Deportation Order is an operational matter for the GNIB.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 307: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a review will be undertaken in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick who has been issued with a deportation order. [36978/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to my Reply to Parliamentary Question No. 182 on Tuesday, 14th October, 2008. The status of the person concerned remains as set out in that Reply.