Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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1298. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to confirm if the vast majority of Somali nationals living in Ireland that have been granted international protection have previously been resident in Sweden, with many having Swedish citizenship; if he will accept that this constitutes an abuse of the international protection process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58863/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I am fully committed to ensuring that Ireland’s International Protection system is robust and rules based, and that our borders are protected.

The establishment of a person’s identity and nationality is an important feature of the Irish immigration process.

In general terms, applicants for international protection are requested to provide personal documentation to the International Protection Office (IPO) at the time of application to attest to their identity, nationality and date and place of birth.

All applicants who enter the international protection process are fingerprinted and photographed. These fingerprints are checked against Eurodac, an EU database which stores the fingerprints of asylum applicants and those who have been found to cross borders illegally.

A “marked Eurodac hit” indicates that a person has been granted international protection status in an EU member state.

In 2024 and 2025, there were less than five marked Eurodac hits for Somalis who had been given protection in Sweden.

An applicant who has a live international protection application in a Member State or has residency status (such as a work permit) will be assessed under the Dublin III Regulation, with a view to determining which Member State is responsible for determining the protection application.

An applicant who holds an International Protection Status issued from another other Member State will be assessed under the Inadmissible process of the International Protection Act. The International Protection Act 2015, Section 21(2)(a) provides that an application for international protection is inadmissible where one or more of the following circumstances applies in relation to the person who is the subject of the application:

• Another member State has granted refugee status or subsidiary protection status to the person;
• A country other than a Member State is, in accordance with Section 21(15) of the 2015 Act, a first country of asylum for the person;
• The person arrived in the State from a safe third country that is, in accordance with Subsection 17, a safe country for the person.