Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 362: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24, has had their approval for temporary permission to remain in the State accompanied by a cautionary reference to the applicant having been convicted of driving offences when such convictions were annulled; if he will confirm that the record in his Department has been corrected and that the applicant has never broken the criminal law here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27676/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The letter the Deputy is referring to was issued to the person concerned on 22 June 2009 informing him that his temporary leave to remain in the State had been extended by one year. This temporary leave to remain in the State is granted under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended). As part of assessing all cases, including renewals, under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), consideration must be given to eleven factors set out in Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999 (as amended); one of which is, Section 3 (6) (g), the character and conduct of the person both within and (where relevant and ascertainable) outside the State (including any criminal convictions). In this regard, as is standard procedure, a Garda report was sought in relation to the person concerned during examination of his application for renewal of temporary leave to remain. The Garda report received indicated that the person concerned was convicted in Cork City Court of a number of driving offences. Notwithstanding this information, it was decided to renew the temporary leave to remain in the State. As is standard procedure in such cases, the letter notifying the person concerned of this decision also cautioned him that the renewal of his leave to remain was conditional to him obeying the laws of the State and that he should not involve himself in any further criminal activity.

However, subsequent to the issuing of this letter, further information was received from the person concerned on 27 June 2009, which indicated that the convictions against him had been overturned on appeal. Following receipt of this information, a further Garda report was sought on the matter. The Garda report confirmed the appeal outcome. In light of this information the person concerned was issued with a new temporary permission to remain letter on 6 June 2009, in which all references to the driving offences have been removed.