Information
If you have submitted an application for refugee status in Ireland to the Refugee Applications Commission, you will be notified in writing of a time, a date and a place to attend for interview in connection with your application.
If you require an interpreter, every reasonable effort will be made to provide one. You should indicate the language you require when you are confirming your attendance for interview.
If, for some exceptional reason, you cannot attend for interview, either you or your solicitor must contact the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner immediately and outline the reasons.
If you fail to attend for interview on a date and at a time fixed and you fail to provide the Refugee Applications Commissioner with an explanation (not later than 3 working days from that date) which in the opinion of the Commissioner is reasonable, your application shall be deemed to be withdrawn and the Minister shall refuse to give you a declaration.
About your interview (called the "substantive interview")
- The purpose of the interview is to establish the full details of your claim for a declaration as a refugee.
- You should explain clearly and precisely your fears and provide all the information and details relevant to your particular circumstances.
- The interview is your opportunity to explain in detail why you fear returning to your country of origin.
- It is your duty to co-operate fully and to be completely truthful. Failure to do so may result in your receiving a negative recommendation.
- The Authorised Officer who will interview you on behalf of the Refugee Applications Commissioner has received full training from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in interviewing persons seeking a declaration as a refugee. The Authorised Officer will also have detailed information available on your country of origin.
- The interviewer will keep a written record of the interview. You will have an opportunity to review the record and you will be asked to sign each page to confirm that it is an accurate account of your interview. The interviewer will also sign each page. If you feel that anything written down is not accurate, you will be given an opportunity to have it corrected during the interview.
- You may submit any documentary evidence or make other written submissions in support of your claim prior to or at your interview.
- The sole function of an interpreter (if present) is to interpret the interviewer's questions and your responses, accurately and literally. The interpreter will neither offer advice to you nor will he/she express any opinion on the merits of your case. The interpreter is aware of the confidential nature of the interview.
- If you wish to bring a legal representative with you, he/she will normally be allowed to observe at the interview. Your legal representative will be given an opportunity at the end of the interview to make any points that are considered necessary.
- There are no facilities for children in the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, so arrangements should be made by you to have your children looked after while you attend for interview.
- You should make all information relevant to your application available to the Refugee Applications Commissioner. If you receive a negative recommendation and seek to bring forward additional information at appeal stage, this will be taken into account by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal in assessing your credibility.
Credibility
In assessing your credibility in connection with your application for refugee status, the Commissioner or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal shall consider the following:
- Whether you have identity documents or give a reasonable explanation for not having them
- Whether you give a reasonable explanation for any claim that Ireland is the first safe country in which you arrived after leaving your own country
- Whether you have provided a full and true explanation of how you travelled to and arrived in Ireland
- If you did not apply immediately on arriving at a point of entry into Ireland, whether you give a reasonable explanation for that
- If you have forged, destroyed or disposed of identity or other documents, whether you give reasonable explanation for that
- Whether, without reasonable cause you reapply having previously withdrawn an application for refugee status
- Whether you applied for asylum following commencement of the deportation process
- Whether you have complied with the duty to co-operate in the investigation of your case, to provide relevant information at the earliest possible opportunity, to not leave the State without the consent of the Minister of Justice, to keep the Commissioner informed of your address or to comply with any requirement to live at a particular place or to report regularly to a named person
- Whether on appeal you bring forward new information which could have been but was not given to the Commissioner.
Assessment of your application
An Authorised Officer will submit a report to the Refugee Applications Commissioner in relation to your application. This report will be based on the matters raised by you in writing and orally at your interview. The report will also take into account other matters that the officer considers appropriate, for example, information in relation to the situation in your country of origin or representations made by the UNHCR in connection with your application. A copy of this report will be sent to you
Positive recommendations by the Refugee Applications Commissioner
Where your application for a declaration as a refugee receives a positive recommendation from the Refugee Applications Commissioner, your recommendation will be submitted to the Minister for Justice who will make a declaration that you are a refugee. You will be given a declaration in writing stating that you are a refugee.
