Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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79. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the annual refusal rates for take charge family reunification applications under the Dublin III regulation to date in 2016 and in each of the years since it was introduced; and the annual refusal rates for family reunification applications lodged by Syrians to date in 2016 and in each of the years since the regulation was introduced. [28843/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Dublin III Regulation (EU) No. 604/2013) came into effect on 1st January 2014 replacing the earlier Dublin II Regulation. While family reasons are provided for under certain articles of the Dublin Regulation, its primary purpose is not family reunification which my Department deals with under separate legislation such as the Refugee Act 1996. The Dublin Regulation determines the country responsible for examining an application for . This is usually the country where the asylum application is first made. The Regulation operates on a country to country basis and an applicant for international protection may not choose a destination country in which to have his/her application processed save in accordance with the criteria in the Regulation.

Requests to join applicants together forfamily reasons may be made under the Dublin Regulation provided that the circumstances of the case meet the criteria laid down in the particular articles viz. Articles 8, 9, 10 and 11. In 2014 there were 11 such requests made to Ireland from other Member States in 2014, 1 of which related to a Syrian national. Of these, 4 were accepted including the Syrian national and 7 were rejected as they did not meet the Dublin criteria. In addition, Articles 16.1 and 17.2 may be invoked for dependency reasons, the former for care reasons while the latter is a more general discretionary provision whereby family members maybe brought together on humanitarian grounds, even if a State is not responsible under the normal determining criteria of the Regulation. There were 2 such requests made to Ireland from other Member States in 2014, both of which were accepted under Article 16.1 and neither of which involved Syrian nationals.

The comparable figures for 2015 were that there were 5 requests to join applicants together forfamily reasons made to Ireland from other Member States in 2015 - none of which were Syrian. All 5 were accepted. In respect of Articles 16.1 and 17.2 cases there was 1 such request made to Ireland from another Member State in 2015 - which was rejected and was not a Syrian national.

In respect of 2016 (1st January to 30th September) there were 8 requests to join applicants together for family reasons made to Ireland from other Member States none of which involved Syrian nationals, and all of which are still under consideration pending further information. In respect of Articles 16.1 and 17.2 cases there were 4 such requests made to Ireland from other Member States in the same period, 3 of which involved Syrian nationals which were declined and 1 other case is still under consideration.