Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 220: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will review the proposal to deport in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Waterford; if he will examine the facts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34131/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned is the subject of a Deportation Order since 2003 and has been evading his deportation for most of the intervening period. On 7 May 2010, an application to have the Deportation Order revoked, pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (11) of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), was received from the legal representative of the person concerned. This application is under consideration at present and a decision is expected shortly. Once a decision has been made, this decision and the consequences of the decision will be conveyed in writing to the relevant party. While the consideration of this application is not a review of the case as such, it will involve a detailed examination of the latest information submitted to determine if this is materially different to the information which was before the then Minister when the original decision to deport was made.

In relation to the asylum claim made by the person concerned, the position is that this claim was examined by both of the statutory independent refugee status determination bodies, namely the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, both of whom concluded that the person concerned did not meet the criteria for recognition as a refugee. In assessing each individual asylum claim or appeal, the bodies referred to must, in accordance with their statutory remit, have regard for the specific claims made by an applicant as measured against objective, reputable, up to date information relating to the applicant's country of origin and, where doubts exist, the benefit of the doubt is applied in favour of the applicant. I understand that copies of the determinations made by the two bodies were sent to the person concerned at the appropriate times, and to his then legal representatives, so the person concerned will be able to see from those documents the basis for the conclusions reached in his particular case.

Overall, I am satisfied that the State has a very fair and comprehensive mechanism in place for the consideration of all asylum applications and, as such, I am satisfied that the asylum application made by the person concerned was properly considered before a final decision to refuse it was taken. I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by Email using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. The service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek this information through the more administratively expensive Parliamentary Questions process.