The State is required to examine the application of anyone who presents at the borders of the State, or is in the State, and indicates that they wish to make an application for international protection. This is in accordance with our obligations under international and EU asylum law and the Government takes those commitments very seriously.
My Department takes all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.
At the commencement of the international protection process, each applicant has their fingerprints checked against the Eurodac system which allows officials to establish if the applicant has previously applied for international protection in another Member State.
The Deputy should also note that every person who enters the State will go through a SIS check. SIS is a centralised secure database used by European countries for maintaining information (alerts) related to border security and law enforcement. The integration of SIS into national systems means that automatic alerts are generated in real-time in instances where, for example, a Garda member or Immigration Officer encounters a person who is wanted for, or has been involved in, a serious crime in another jurisdiction.
The Deputy might wish to note that any person being considered for a grant of status (refugee status, subsidiary protection or permission to remain) will have a character and conduct check (including checks for criminality) carried out in respect of them before any such status is conferred on them.
An Garda Síochána notify my Department of matters which may be relevant to its examination of an application for international protection and any such matter raised will be given due and appropriate consideration in the statutory processes.
In relation to persons seeking international protection who have committed a crime outside the state, this may or may not be material to their international protection claim. If a person has committed a serious crime in their country of origin, this can form a basis for having them ‘excluded’ from being declared a refugee or from gaining subsidiary protection status in the State. Similarly, a person granted a refugee or a subsidiary protection status can have their status revoked in certain prescribed circumstances, as set out in section 52 of the International Protection Act 2015.
