THE OMBUDSMAN’S remit will not be extended to cover the asylum process, according to Minister of State Martin Mansergh.
Dr Mansergh said an amendment to the Ombudsman Bill, proposed by deputy leader of the Labour Party Joan Burton, was not being accepted on the advice of the Minister for Justice. He was speaking at the Oireachtas committee on finance and the public service.
“It’s the view of the Minister for Justice it would add to the cost and not reduce it, so I regret I’m not in a position to accept the amendment,” Dr Mansergh said.
Ms Burton said the asylum process had become “excessively legalistic” and the costs had “grown astronomically”. The Minister now had an opportunity to widen the remit of the Ombudsman to cover an area which was shrouded in “a secrecy which costs the State vast amounts of money in unnecessary legal procedures”, Ms Burton said.
She said the Department of Justice “shielded itself” from the office of the Ombudsman.
“It’s my view that oversight and independent evaluation through the office of an appropriate authority like the Ombudsman would actually help in reform of administration,” she said.
“I’ve no doubt but that it would result in reduction of costs to the State, contrary to the Minister for Justice’s opinion,” she said.
Ms Burton also said there had been a rise in the number of “unfortunate episodes” at airports during which people were refused entry when they were coming into the country legitimately.
Dr Mansergh said some 4,000 people were refused entry by immigration officers every year. He also said applications for asylum had dropped from 12,000 in 2002 to 4,000 last year. However, immigration applications from non European Economic Area nationals were up from 50,000 in 2000 to 150,000 in 2008. Citizenship applications were up from 2,000 nine years ago to 10,000 last year, while visa applications rose from 30,000 to 80,000 in the same period.
Last month Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly expressed frustration that she lacked the jurisdiction of her EU counterparts in the asylum area.
