Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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645. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will take the persecution of minority groups into consideration when issuing visas to those coming from Iraq and Syria. [33992/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is open to any visa required national to make a visa application for any purpose, the onus resting on the applicant to satisfy the visa officer as to why a visa should be granted in a particular case. All information that the applicant wishes to have taken into consideration should be submitted with their application.

The Deputy will, however, be aware that our visa system is not a protection system. Any person who arrives at the frontiers of the State seeking asylum in the State, or seeking the protection of the State against persecution, or requesting not to be returned or removed to a particular country, or otherwise indicating an unwillingness to leave the State for fear of persecution can apply to the Minister for a declaration that they are a refugee. Applications for asylum in the State are investigated and determined by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner in accordance with the Refugee Act 1996. The vast majority of Syrians who have applied for asylum in Ireland since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011 have been declared to be refugees. The recognition rate for Iraqi nationals is also comparatively high.

Our in-country protection system is supplemented by our commitment to the UNHCR resettlement programme. In the case of Syria I would point out that the Government has already committed to accept 90 persons displaced by the Syrian conflict under this programme. This will include four serious medical cases whose medical needs cannot be met except through resettlement. In addition, the Syrian Humanitarian Admission Programme (SHAP), which was introduced following an approach by members of the Syrian community in Ireland, is intended to offer temporary Irish residence - rather than refugee status - to vulnerable persons present in Syria, or who have fled from Syria to surrounding countries since the outbreak of the conflict in March 2011, and who have close family members residing in the State.

The Programme allowed naturalised Irish citizens of Syrian birth and Syrian nationals already lawfully resident in the State to make an application for vulnerable close family members to join them in Ireland. All applications received are being examined based on the criteria set out in the programme, a key condition of which is that these persons should not become a burden on the State. Beneficiaries who are admitted under the SHAP programme will be granted permission on a temporary basis for up to two years. This Programme is an additional initiative in response to the crisis in Syria and is without prejudice to other avenues whereby Syrian nationals might lawfully enter the State, such as family reunification for the family members of refugees and persons with subsidiary protection. Such other avenues are of course also open to Iraqi nationals.

The Deputy may be aware that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and I have been discussing the ways in which Ireland can offer refuge to a number of families who have seen their lives devastated by the appalling violence and oppression in Iraq. We are both anxious that Ireland plays its part and I have agreed that Ireland will provide refuge to a number of families fleeing the violence being perpetrated by ISIS in Northern Iraq. The details of the arrangements to be put in place for this purpose are under consideration having regard to the experience to date in relation to the SHAP.