Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 293: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of asylum applications by unaccompanied minors deemed withdrawn by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commission in each year since establishment to date; the reason for the withdrawal of these applications; the number of applications received in each year in questions from unaccompanied minors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24764/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The number of asylum applications received from unaccompanied minors in each year since the ORAC was established is set out in a table.

Asylum applications from Unaccompanied Minors 2000 - 2009 (31/5)

*The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner was established in November 2000. In the year 2000, prior to ORAC's establishment 249 applications from Unaccompanied Minors were received, a further 53 were received by the end of the year.

The most common reasons for an application to be deemed withdrawn are where an applicant fails to attend for an interview at the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) without reasonable cause; an applicant fails to co-operate with the Refugee Applications Commissioner after having lodged his or her application; or an applicant fails to notify the Commissioner of his or her postal address or change of address.

The Immigration Act 2003, which was commenced on the 15th September 2003, contained a number of key changes to the Refugee Act, 1996 which enabled the processing of asylum applications to be speeded up and enhanced our ability to deal with abusive applications. These changes included the imposition on applicants of a clear statutory duty to actively pursue their asylum applications and co-operate at all times with the processing agencies or face having their applications deemed withdrawn.

Since the commencement of the 2003 Act, recommendations are made by the ORAC to the Minister that an application should be deemed withdrawn. The number of such recommendations that related to unaccompanied minors are set out in a table. Statistics are not maintained in a way which make it possible to provide figures broken down by the reason for withdrawal.

Recommendations from ORAC to Deem Withdrawn Asylum Applications from Unaccompanied Minors 2003 - 2009 (31/5)

Section 13(2) of the Refugee Act (as amended) provides that there is no right of appeal against a recommendation to deem an application withdrawn.

The above figures do not include applications for minors deemed withdrawn by virtue of the application of Section 22(8) of the Refugee Act 1996 (As amended). These relate to transfer orders effected under the Dublin II Regulation.