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

Legal aid
have had at least ten years experience as a solicitor or a barrister prior to their appointment. The
Refugee Appeals Tribunal, when appointed, will replace the existing Appeals Authorities.
In November 1998, an agreement was reached between the Legal Aid Board and the Department
of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the provision of a comprehensive legal service for asylum
seekers. Under this agreement, the Legal Aid Board service (Refugee Legal Service) has
provided since February 1999 a full legal information, advice and representation service to
asylum seekers at all stages of the procedure, and has a staff of 32. The service is means tested:
the applicant’s income must not exceed IEP 7,350 per year [EUR 9,332.5]. Applicants pay IEP 4
[EUR 5] for legal advice and a further IEP 19 [EUR 24.1] for representation at the appeals
hearing.
The Refugee Legal Service is located in the so-called Refugee Application Centre (RAC), which
opened in October 1998. As well as the Refugee Legal Service, the RAC accommodates the
Asylum Division of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Eastern Health
Board Refugee Unit (which provides asylum seekers with medical care, social welfare and
emergency accommodation) and the UNHCR office.
The Irish Refugee Council’s Legal Unit provides legal information, advice and representation to
asylum seekers. In 1999 and until June 2000, the Legal Unit has run a Women and Children’s
project, funded by UNHCR. This project focuses on unaccompanied minors and vulnerable
women and involves giving advice and information, attending interviews and making
representations on their behalf.
Interpreters
The Procedures for Processing Asylum Claims provide that an applicant will be informed of the
procedure “where possible” in a language he/she understands, and the asylum interview will be
conducted with the aid of an interpreter “where necessary and possible”. At present the
Procedures and the questionnaire are available in 22 languages. Where an applicant has
insufficient English, the interview is usually carried out with the aid of an interpreter. However,
concern has been expressed about the standard of interpreting in some cases. The authorities
have recently awarded a contract for the provision of a translation and interpretation service for
the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to a translating company.
Appeals hearings are also carried out with the aid of an interpreter where necessary.
Unaccompanied minors
There are no special provisions for unaccompanied minors set out in the Procedures for
Processing Asylum Claims. However, under Section 8 of the 1996 Refugee Act (as amended by
the 1999 Immigration Act), where it appears to an immigration officer or authorised officer that a
child under the age of 18 has arrived in the country and is not in the custody of any person, that
officer shall notify the Health Board and the provisions of the Child Care Act 1991 shall be applied
to the child.
Where it appears to the Health Board that an application for refugee status should be made on
behalf of the child, the Health Board will appoint a suitable person to make the application on
behalf of the child.
The legislation does not provide for a different procedure for child applicants and, in practice, they
follow the same procedure as adults.
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Ireland