Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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729. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality whether the confidentiality provisions of the International Protection Act 2015 allow individual international protection applicants to grant public representatives formal permission to submit queries related to their applications for international protection; whether the Act allows any Department services to answer queries related to individual applications for international protection where such permission is granted; and what forms or templates exist to grant such permissions. [17240/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Section 26 of the International Protection Act 2015 requires the Minister to take all practicable steps to ensure that the identity of any person who applies for international protection is kept confidential.

The Courts have found that this entitlement to confidentiality continues to apply even after a person's application has concluded.

Many applicants for international protection may be vulnerable, or have legitimate reasons to avoid their location from becoming known to those alleged to have persecuted them. The purpose of this legislative provision is to be of benefit to those who have applied for international protection in such situations.

On foot of this it has been the long-standing practice to limit external engagement on individual cases to legal representatives or, in the case of an unaccompanied child applicant, to Tusla.

As such, an applicant for protection status, or their legal representative, should contact either the International Protection Office (IPO) or the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) directly if they wish to receive an?update on the status of their case.