Country Report: Ireland
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Country Report: Ireland 2020 Update 1 Acknowledgements & Methodology The first edition of this report was written by Sharon Waters, Communications and Public Affairs Officer with the Irish Refugee Council and was edited by ECRE. The first and second updates of this report were written by Nick Henderson, Legal Officer at the Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre. The third and fourth updates were written by Maria Hennessy, Legal Officer at the Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre. The 2017 update was written by Luke Hamilton, Legal Officer with the Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre. The 2018 update was written by Luke Hamilton, Legal Officer with the Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre and Rosemary Hennigan, Policy and Advocacy Officer with the Irish Refugee Council. The 2019 update was written by Luke Hamilton, Legal Officer with the Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre and Rosemary Hennigan, Policy and Advocacy Officer with the Irish Refugee Council. The 2020 update was written by Nick Henderson and Brian Collins, with the assistance of Carmen del Prado. The 2021 update was written by Nick Henderson and Hayley Dowling. This report draws on information obtained through a mixture of desk-based research and direct correspondence with relevant agencies, and information obtained through the Irish Refugee Council’s own casework and policy work. Of particular relevance throughout were the latest up to date statistics from the International Protection Office (IPO) and the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS), including their annual and monthly reports; data from the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT); as well as various reports and statements from stakeholders such as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, UNHCR Ireland and NGOs working on the ground with refugees and asylum seekers. The Irish Refugee Council is grateful to all colleagues for their assistance in obtaining information used to compile this report. The information in this report is up-to-date as of 31 December 2020, unless otherwise stated. The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) is coordinated by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). It aims to provide up-to date information on asylum practice in 23 countries. This includes 19 EU Member States (AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, ES, FR, GR, HR, HU, IE, IT, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, and SI) and 4 non-EU countries (Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom) which is accessible to researchers, advocates, legal practitioners and the general public through the dedicated website www.asylumineurope.org. The database also seeks to promote the implementation and transposition of EU asylum legislation reflecting the highest possible standards of protection in line with international refugee and human rights law and based on best practice. This report is part of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA), funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM), a collaborative initiative by the Network of European Foundations, and the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of ECRE and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of EPIM or the European Commission. 2 Table of Contents Glossary & List of Abbreviations ..........................................................................................7 Statistics .................................................................................................................................9 Overview of the legal framework ......................................................................................... 11 Overview of the main changes since the previous report update ..................................... 13 Asylum procedure ................................................................................................................ 18 A. General ........................................................................................................................ 18 1. Flow chart ................................................................................................................. 18 2. Types of procedures ................................................................................................. 19 3. List of authorities intervening in each stage of the procedure ................................... 19 4. Number of staff and nature of the determining authority ........................................... 19 5. Short overview of the asylum procedure ................................................................... 20 B. Access to the procedure and registration ................................................................. 24 1. Access to the territory and push backs ..................................................................... 24 2. Registration of the asylum application ...................................................................... 25 C. Procedures .................................................................................................................. 30 1. Regular procedure .................................................................................................... 30 2. Dublin ....................................................................................................................... 40 3. Admissibility procedure ............................................................................................. 46 4. Border procedure (border and transit zones) ............................................................ 49 5. Accelerated procedure ............................................................................................. 49 D. Guarantees for vulnerable groups ............................................................................. 51 1. Identification ............................................................................................................. 51 2. Special procedural guarantees ................................................................................. 53 3. Use of medical reports .............................................................................................. 56 4. Legal representation of unaccompanied children ...................................................... 57 E. Subsequent applications ............................................................................................ 58 3 F. The safe country concepts ......................................................................................... 59 1. Safe country of origin............................................................................................. 59 2. First country of asylum .......................................................................................... 60 G. Information for asylum seekers and access to NGOs and UNHCR ......................... 61 H. Differential treatment of specific nationalities in the procedure ............................. 62 Reception Conditions ........................................................................................................... 63 A. Access and forms of reception conditions ............................................................... 70 1. Criteria and restrictions to access reception conditions ............................................ 70 2. Forms and levels of material reception conditions .................................................... 73 3. Reduction or withdrawal of material reception conditions.......................................... 75 4. Freedom of movement ............................................................................................. 77 B. Housing ....................................................................................................................... 80 1. Types of accommodation .......................................................................................... 80 2. Conditions in reception facilities................................................................................ 85 C. Employment and education ....................................................................................... 91 1. Access to the labour market ..................................................................................... 91 2. Access to education ................................................................................................. 95 D. Health care .................................................................................................................. 97 E. Special reception needs of vulnerable groups ......................................................... 98 F. Information for asylum seekers and access to reception centres ........................ 100 1. Provision of information on reception ...................................................................... 100 2. Access to reception centres by third parties............................................................ 101 G. Differential treatment of specific nationalities in reception ................................... 102 Detention of Asylum Seekers ............................................................................................ 103 A. General ...................................................................................................................... 103 B. Legal framework for detention ................................................................................. 104 1. Grounds for detention ............................................................................................