Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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398. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent of communication and correspondence he has had with the Australian authorities as part of efforts to provide assistance and support to Irish citizens in Australia who have been found to have violated the terms of their visa by remaining in the country beyond the permitted duration of stay; the financial assistance afforded to undocumented Irish citizens who find themselves in this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2288/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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399. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of Irish citizens who have been deported, returned or removed from Australia as a result of having violated the terms of their visa by remaining in the country beyond the permitted duration of stay in each year since 2010, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2289/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 398 and 399 together.

My Department has three offices in Australia, the Embassy, which is located in Canberra, a Consulate-General in Sydney and an Honorary Consulate in Perth.

The Embassy and Consulates meet regularly with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and with the Australian Border Force (ABF) on all visa-related issues affecting Irish citizens, including overstaying, deportation and related matters at Federal and State levels as appropriate. Embassy officials met most recently in November with senior officials from DIBP. The Honorary Consul in Perth is in regular contact with the Australian Border Force, and in particular with the Management of the detention facilities in the area.

The Embassy and Consulates work to ensure that Irish citizens are not disadvantaged and are able to avail of all protections which would apply to Australian citizens in comparable circumstances. Typically, cases involving visa issues where citizens are held in detention come to the attention of the Embassy or Consulates if the person involved is in need of a travel document; seeks to challenge a deportation; or if they or their family have particular concerns about their detention. Consular assistance is provided when requested by an Irish citizen.

This assistance is supported by the Consular Assistance Team in my Department in Dublin which liaises with families at home and can request the Embassy and Consulates to raise any issues of concern that they may have with the authorities.

I also wish to acknowledge the excellent support work in this area undertaken across Australia by the Irish Welfare Bureaus, Support Associations and Irish Clubs, many of whom receive financial support from my Department’s Emigrant Support Programme. These groups complement the work of the Embassy and Consulates and provide support and local advice to visiting Irish citizens and to those experiencing difficulty while in Australia.

The Emigrant Support Programme (ESP), which is administered by my Department, provides funding to not-for-profit organisations and projects to support Irish communities overseas and to encourage closer links between these communities and Ireland.

ESP funding allocated to welfare organisations in Australia has increased in recent years, largely due to the challenges associated with the significant increase in young Irish people arriving there, and additional outreach work by the organisations to the elderly in the community. Total ESP funding awarded to Australia based organisations from 2004 to 2014 amounts to over €2.7m.

Organisations supported in Australia include the Irish Australian Support Association of Queensland (Brisbane), Irish Australian Welfare Bureau and Resource Centre New South Wales (Sydney), Irish Australian Support and Resource Bureau Inc. (Melbourne) and the Claddagh Association (Perth).

I have also included a table provided to our Embassy by the Australian authorities showing the numbers of Irish citizens who over-stayed their visas and were returned or removed from Australia from 2010 to 31 December 2015.

Irish national over stayers returned or removed from Australia - 2010-2011 to 2015-2016 (31 Dec)*