Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the position regarding the announced review into the cases of asylum seekers who are waiting five years or more to receive a final decision on applications made to continue residing here; the number of individuals in such circumstances; when the review will be complete and to detail the purpose of the review. [39957/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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My Department did not announce a review of the nature referred to by the Deputy. On a regular and ongoing basis my Department assesses the cases on hand to ensure that, as far as possible, persons who are waiting for a decision for the longest periods have their cases finalised first.

By way of clarification, the cases referred to by the Deputy are those at the repatriation stage of the asylum/immigration process i.e. where persons who have failed in their application for refugee status and have had their asylum claims rejected proceed to submit an application for Subsidiary Protection and/or written representations for consideration under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended). Approximately 1,100 cases in the system are there five years or more following the finalisation of their asylum application. This represents some 11% of all such cases. It should be borne in mind that many of these cases are the subject of legal actions instigated by the applicants which must first be dealt with by the Courts before my Department can proceed to finalise them.