legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

Convention refugees are granted a residence permit for one year, which is automatically
renewed.
Programme refugees
Section 24 of the 1996 Refugee Act defines a “programme refugee” as “(…) a person to whom
leave to enter and remain in the State for temporary protection or resettlement as part of a group
of persons has been given by the Government (…) whether or not such person is a refugee with
the meaning of the definition of “refugee” (...)”.
Programme refugees are usually invited to Ireland by the Irish authorities at the request of
UNHCR and often in response to some humanitarian crisis. Generally, they have the same rights
as Convention Refugees.
The first group of programme refugee were Vietnamese, who were granted refugee status on
arrival in 1979 and are now mostly naturalised.
The second group consisted of 450 Bosnians who arrived in Ireland between 1992 and 1995 and
were initially granted temporary protection by means of a residence permit for one year, which
had to be renewed every year. In 1994, however, the authorities decided that Bosnians arriving in
Ireland should be granted Programme Refugee status as the conflict in Bosnia showed no signs
of being resolved. An additional 87 Bosnians arrived in Ireland in 1998 as part of the family
reunification programme and the Bosnian community in Ireland now numbers over 1,400. Many of
them are naturalised.
There is no long-term agreement with UNHCR on the reception of quota refugees in Ireland.
Other types of residence permit
Temporary leave to remain (Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims)
According to Section 22 of the Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims of December 1997, a
person who has not been granted refugee status should have “sufficient opportunity to make
submissions to the Minister as to whether there are special reasons why leave should be granted
to them to temporarily in the state”.
The decision to grant or refuse temporary leave to remain is at the discretion of the Minister for
Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and the rights and conditions which pertain to this status are
not specified. However, a recent governmental report states that permission to remain may be
granted to those who are refused refugee status, but are not returned because their country is at
war or for other unspecified compelling reasons.
Persons granted temporary leave to remain are given a one year residence permit, renewable
every year pending an improvement in the situation in their country of origin. They are granted the
right to reside and work in Ireland for the duration of the permit. After five years of residence with
this status, they may apply for naturalisation.
In 1998 and 1999, respectively 27 and 39 applicants were granted temporary leave to remain.
Temporary leave to remain (1996 Refugee Act)
Under Section 17(6) of the 1996 Refugee Act (not yet implemented), the Minister may, at his/her
discretion, grant temporary leave to remain to persons whose application for refugee status has
been rejected. Section 3(6)(h) of the 1999 Immigration Act provides that the Minister shall have
regard, inter alia, to “humanitarian considerations”, in deciding whether to make a deportation
order in relation to a person. Such “humanitarian considerations” are not defined in legislation.
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