Return - IOM Publications - International Organization for Migration

Return Migration: Policies and Practices
2. ASSISTED VOLUNTARY RETURN
2.1 POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND PROVISIONS
The Irish government’s policy on return focuses on providing adequate protection to refugees
who satisfy the definition established in the Geneva Convention on Refugees, while ensuring
that unsuccessful asylum applicants return to their country of origin, where there is no obligation
to offer them protection.
The option of voluntary return is generally preferred over forced removal of persons who no
longer have the right of residence in Ireland; and incentives to this end are established in some
existing immigration laws and actively promoted.
According to Section 3(4) b of the 1999 Immigration Act, the Minister of Justice has an obligation
to inform a person against whom he intends to issue a deportation order that s/he may leave
the country voluntarily at any time before the Minister decides the matter, and requires the concerned
individual to inform the Minister in writing of the decision to leave and provide details
concerning the arrangements for departure.
Statistics on deportation and voluntary return demonstrate that the option of voluntary return has
been successfully taken up since the adoption of the Immigration Act, leading to comparable
results in voluntary and involuntary returns. There were over 500 voluntary returns recorded in
2002 and over 750 such cases in 2003.
Following the rejection of an asylum claim; and if no application for HLR is made within the
specified timeframe, applicants have an obligation to leave the country and cooperate with officials
to enforce the removal, and a number of rejected asylum seekers sometimes leave
independently.
In general, no advice is provided on the means of return; and before 2001 there were no programmes
to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of unsuccessful asylum seekers, although some
specific assisted return programmes had been implemented in the past e.g. the return of Bosnian
and Kosovar refugees from Ireland and the Return of Qualified African Nationals.
In 2001, the Ministry of Justice, Equality and Law initiated a pilot programme on assisted voluntary
returns for asylum seekers and irregular migrants, in cooperation with IOM. Although the
programme was initially tailored for Nigerian and Romanian Nationals, two of the largest asylum
seeker communities in Ireland, it has now been extended to all non-EEA nationals.
The programme offers assistance in three chronological stages of return – pre-departure, transportation
and post-arrival, and includes information dissemination, counselling, medical assistance,
travel allowance, return grants, transport assistance, reintegration and monitoring.
192