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

The Asylum Division of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is responsible for
deciding on whether a claim is manifestly unfounded or not. The procedure includes a full
interview with the applicant.
Negative decisions under the accelerated procedure may be appealed to the Appeals Authority.
An Appeals Authority is a person appointed by the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform,
but who is independent of both the Minister and the Department, with at least ten years practice
as a solicitor or a barrister. There are currently 14 Appeals Authorities.
An appeal to the Appeals authority has suspensive effect. It must be filed within seven working
days of notification and there is no provision for an oral hearing. UNHCR is notified of the
negative first instance decision and is provided with a copy of any appeal submission made.
UNHCR has seven days to forward its observations on the appeal case to the Appeals Authority,
which then makes a recommendation to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. In
practice, the appeal decision is made by an officer of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law
Reform on behalf of the Minister based on the recommendation of the Appeals Authority.
If it is considered that the claim is not manifestly unfounded and therefore should be considered
substantively, the applicant will be informed of the decision and his/her application will be
processed further under normal determination procedure. If the first instance decision is upheld,
the applicant will not be notified of the appeal decision.
From January to April 2000, 388 applications have been rejected as manifestly unfounded,
against only 237 for the previous two years.
The average processing time for a first instance decision under the accelerated procedure for
manifestly unfounded applications is six-eight weeks. The average processing time of appeals is
the same.
1996 Refugee Act
Section 12 of the 1996 Refugee Act provides a procedure for manifestly unfounded claims, which,
when implemented, will replace the procedure under Sections 12–14 of the Procedures for
Processing Asylum Claims.
In practice, the provisions of the Act are almost identical to those in the Procedures. In particular,
the grounds on which an application may be deemed manifestly unfounded are the same. Under
the 1996 Refuge Act, however, the time limit in which to appeal a negative decision will be
extended from the current seven days to ten days.
Normal determination procedure
Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims
Following the interview (see above), the interviewing official of the Asylum Division of the
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform makes a recommendation on the application,
which is then examined by a more senior official. The latter makes a decision based on the
information given in the questionnaire and the interview and any other information submitted by
the applicant. The final decision is then made by an assistant principal. The applicant is notified of
the decision in writing. The decision making process has become considerably quicker with
applicants now receiving a decision within three-four months of the interview.
1996 Refugee Act
According to Section 11 of the1996 Refugee Act, the task of investigating applications for the
purpose of ascertaining whether applicants should be granted asylum will be the responsibility of
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Ireland