Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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632. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 677 and 679 of 20 May 2025, the reason both questions have not been sufficiently answered; and when a full response will be made to both. [32519/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy, that concerning Parliamentary Question no. 677 of 20 May 2025, which requested:

“.... the number of persons, and of what nationality, have been deported in the past six years as a result of an alert on Sharing Information System SIS II, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”

My Department sought and received clarification from the Deputy regarding this Parliamentary Question that the question was referring to the number of persons who had been refused leave to land at the border as the result of an alert on the Schengen Information System (SIS II).

As outlined in the response to the Deputy, the SIS II system facilitates the exchange of information between national border control authorities, customs and police authorities on persons who may have been involved in a serious crime. It also contains alerts on missing persons, in particular children, as well as information on certain property, such as banknotes, cars, vans, firearms and identity documents that may have been stolen, misappropriated or lost. Therefore, the fact of a person being subject to an alert on SIS II alert does not as a matter of course in each instance result in that person being refused leave to land. Where a person has been identified as being the subject of an alert at the border this fact is immediately transmitted to An Garda Síochána who will have operational responsibility for determining the appropriate next steps.

When a non-EEA national presents at a border control, an Immigration Officer must determine whether that person should be granted leave to land and gain entry to the State or be refused leave to land. Section 4(3) of the Immigration Act 2004 sets out the full range of grounds on which a person may be refused. In performing their duties, an Officer is required to consider all of the circumstances of the individual at the time of entry; this will include if the person has an alert on the SIS II and any relevant information contained on this alert. However, a person being subject to an alert on the SIS II is not in itself a ground for refusal under Section 4 of the Immigration Act 2004. It is not possible to identify the number of refusals where an alert on SIS II would inform an immigration officers decision to refuse a person entry into the State.

The Deputy also references Parliamentary Question no. 679 of 20 May 2025, which requested:

“.... the number of times the Government has been consulted by other national authorities before granting or extending a residence permit or long-stay visa for a non-EU national refused the right of entry into or stay in another Member State, or before or after entering an alert for refusal of entry and stay on a non-EU national who is the holder of a valid residence permit or long-stay visa granted by another Member State, broken down by number and nationality, in the past six years.”

My Department also sought clarification from the Deputy on whether he was referring to the Eurodac system. The clarification received from the Deputy stated that the question was also related to SIS II. As outlined in the response to the Deputy, the information requested regarding the number of times that a SIS II alert has led to a person being refused an immigration permission in another country is not available to my Department.