Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of leave to remain applications processed in the past 12 months; the number of outstanding applications to be processed; the cost of the reception integration agency services to such applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28448/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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What has become known colloquially as 'an application for leave to remain' is the submission of written representations to the Minister against the making of a Deportation Order. In all such cases, I, as Minister, must decide whether a Deportation Order should be made or leave to remain in the State should be granted. This process is founded on the provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended).

The number of cases finalised in the twelve month period from 1 June 2009 to 31 May 2010 was as follows: (i) a Deportation Order was made in 985 cases, (ii) Leave to Remain was granted in 660 cases and (iii) Voluntary Returns were facilitated in 414 cases meaning that, in total, 2,059 cases were finalised in the period in question.

At 31 May 2010, there were 11,700 cases on hands.

The Deputy should appreciate that the processing of cases at the repatriation stage of the process is resource intensive given that over 80% of all cases are of asylum origin and, as such, will have to have the Subsidiary Protection element of their case assessed before a final decision can be made under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended). This essentially means that there are two discrete decisions to be made in all such cases with different criteria to be applied in the two situations. Cases of non-asylum origin i.e. the remaining 20% of cases will not have a Subsidiary Protection element and, as such, will not take the same level of processing time.

The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) provides accommodation to persons at all stages of the asylum and related processes. It would not be possible to specifically identify the cost to RIA of a particular cohort within the overall accommodation population, such as 'leave to remain applicants'. However, the outturn for RIA for all accommodation provided in 2009 was €86.509m.