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

Interview
Since the beginning of April 2000, new applicants for asylum having been issued with
questionnaire, are housed in reception centres for up to two weeks pending dispersal to
accommodation elsewhere in the country (see “Accommodation” under “Social Conditions for
Asylum Seekers” below).
Asylum seekers are requested to attend an interview at the Asylum Division of the Department of
Justice, Equality and Law Reform where interpreting facilities are provided where “necessary and
possible”. For those who have arrived since January 1999, the waiting period for interview is
normally eight-nine months, although it is the intention of the Department to reduce this waiting
period in the near future, to three months. Applicants are interviewed by an official of the
Department and may be accompanied by a legal representative. The latter is not permitted to
speak during the interview but has the opportunity to make comments at the end of the interview.
The interview can last between two to five hours.
The applicant may make further representations within five days of the interview. This can include
additional information, clarification of issues raised in the interview, legal arguments and
additional documentation.
Applicants may be called for a second interview for the purposes of clarification.
Manifestly unfounded procedure
Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims
An accelerated procedure for manifestly unfounded applications was introduced under Sections
12–14 of the Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims. Under these provisions, an application
can be deemed manifestly unfounded on one of the 12 following grounds:
1. the application does not show any grounds in support of the claim that the applicant is a
refugee;
2. the applicant gave insufficient details or evidence to support his/her claim;
3. his/her reason for leaving his/her country of nationality does not relate to a fear of persecution;
4. he/she did not reveal, without reasonable cause, that he/she was travelling with false identity
documents;
5. he/she, without reasonable cause, made deliberately false or misleading representations in
relation to the application;
6. he/she, without reasonable cause and in bad faith, destroyed identity documents, withheld
relevant information of obstructed the investigation of the case;
7. he/she deliberately failed to reveal that he/she had applied for asylum in another country;
8. he/she applied for asylum with the sole purpose of avoiding removal from Ireland;
9. he/she has already lodged an application for asylum in another State party to the Geneva
Convention, which was rejected, and he/she has not showed any material change of
circumstances;
10.he/she is a national or a resident from a country party to the Geneva Convention in respect to
which he/she has not showed any evidence of persecution;
11.after submitting the application for asylum, he/she without reasonable cause has left Ireland
without permission;
12.he/she has already been granted asylum in another country, and his/her reasons for not
returning to that country are not related to a fear of persecution.
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Ireland