Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will reply to correspondence from this Deputy dated 29 April 2010 and 21 May 2010 regarding the case of persons (details supplied) in Dublin 24; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30620/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned was transferred to the United Kingdom on 25 March 2009 in accordance with the terms of the Dublin II Regulation, Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003. The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, (ORAC), had determined on 3 March, 2009, that the United Kingdom is responsible for examining this person's asylum application, as they had previously made an asylum application in that country. The United Kingdom had accepted responsibility for processing the application on 19 January 2009.

The Dublin II Regulation, (Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003), is intended to prevent the phenomenon of 'asylum shopping' across Europe and sets out criteria for determining which Regulation State is responsible for examining an asylum application where applications have been lodged in more than one Regulation State or whereby an asylum seeker has been granted a visa to enter another Regulation State and has entered that other State before entering Ireland and making an asylum application here. At the same time, it guarantees applicants that one State will process their application, thereby preventing the creation of 'refugees in orbit', a situation which had previously pertained in Europe.

Therefore the United Kingdom remains the state responsible for dealing with this person's asylum application.