Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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35. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he has received requests to accommodate persecuted members of the LGBTI community from the Chechen Republic and grant them international protection within the meaning of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. [29602/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am obliged by law to keep information on asylum applicants confidential and it is an offence to identify a person that has applied for international protection in Ireland.  It is in that context that I cannot provide the information sought by the Deputy as it could potentially lead to the identification of protection applicants.

If an application for asylum or subsidiary protection has been made in the State, for confidentiality reasons it is not the practice to comment on such applications and the applicant or his legal representative should contact either the International Protection Office (IPO) or the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) directly, as appropriate.

The IPO may be contacted either by email to info@ipo.gov.ie, by telephone to the IPO Customer Service Centre at 01 6028008, or in writing to Customer Service Centre, International Protection Office, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal may be contacted either by email to , by telephone at 01 474 8400 (or Lo-Call 1890 201 458), or in writing to Corporate Services Division, The International Protection Appeals Tribunal, 6-7 Hanover Street East, Dublin D02 W320.

Following the commencement of the International Protection Act 2015 on 31 December 2016, new arrangements for the investigation and determination of applications for international protection (refugee status and subsidiary protection) and cases involving permission to remain in the State have been introduced. Such applications are now processed, as part of a single application procedure, by the International Protection Office (IPO) which has replaced the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) from that date. The staff of that Office (the Chief International Protection Officer and International Protection Officers) are independent in the performance of their protection functions.