Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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296. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the regularisation of a person (details supplied) who has been living in direct provision for more than five years but who is omitted from the recent and welcome regularisation scheme for undocumented persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61471/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The scheme for the Regularisation of Long Term Undocumented Migrants closed on 31 July 2022 with the International Protection strand closing on the 07 August 2022. This once in a generation scheme allowed eligible applicants the chance to regularise their status, access the labour market and begin their path to citizenship.

I am advised that the person concerned was not eligible to make an application to the Regularisation Scheme as they did not meet the Scheme’s criteria.

The two strands of the Regularisation Scheme were very different, with eligibility for one scheme requiring an applicant to be documented in the international protection process at the relevant time and the other scheme requiring an applicant to be undocumented for a specified period.

It was not possible for a person to combine periods spent documented and periods spent undocumented to qualify under the Regularisation Scheme.

Where a person is refused under the Regularisation Scheme, other immigration avenues can be explored. If a person remains resident in the State without an immigration permission I encourage them to contact Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) or their local immigration office and to take all the appropriate steps to regularise their status.

Any application submitted should explain their current circumstances and future intentions in the State and provide any documentation they feel will support their application. In all cases, people must engage with the authorities if they wish to be permitted to remain here legally.

Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) examines each application to remain in the State on a case-by-case basis.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility (inisoireachtasmail@justice.ie) which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.