Non-EU nationals who commit a range of offences, including traffic offences, will face summary deportation under a planned new immigration Bill announced yesterday by the Minister for Justice.
The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill also provides for all non-EU nationals to carry biometric identity cards, known as residence permits. These residence permits will vary depending on the status of the holder, ranging from asylum-seeker, to short-term resident, to long-term resident, including those with refugee status. Long-term residents will have access to rights and benefits generally on a par with those of Irish citizens, similar to the US green card system.
Mr McDowell also announced the abolition of the existing Refugee Appeals Tribunal and its replacement by a body composed of full-time personnel, and the incorporation of the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner into a broader body, which would deal with all immigration and refugee matters.
He also said that he had asked the Attorney General to consider ways to cut off the existing access to the judicial review system from asylum-seekers who had failed to get refugee status. This lengthy process prolonged their stay and he would like to see it replaced by a brief procedure, like a habeas corpus application, that could be dealt with by a single member of the judiciary.
Those entering the State, either as immigrants or asylum-seekers, will, if they enter legally or present themselves at a port seeking asylum, receive a residence permit. One of the conditions of receiving it will be a condition to keep the peace, be of good behaviour generally and obey the law.
Mr McDowell said yesterday that breach of these conditions, or association with criminal elements like people-traffickers, "will lead to a summary process of revocation" of the permit.
Anyone in the State without a residence permit will be here illegally, and subject to arrest, detention and deportation. Those who are deported will be liable to the State for the cost of their deportation, and must pay these costs before submitting an application to re-enter.
Stressing that most non-EU nationals who came to Ireland were honest people seeking to work and working hard, Mr McDowell said the new procedures would enable the Government to manage immigration at every stage.
Policies were being developed across Government departments aimed at encouraging people with sought-after qualifications, skills or entrepreneurial abilities to consider Ireland as a permanent destination, he said. Such people would be eligible for "long-term resident" status.
The Bill would also provide for visas to be issued to visitors from certain countries. Visas would not automatically entitle people to enter the State, however, but would indicate they were likely to be allowed enter.
The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) will be assimilated into a new body, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. He paid tribute to the work of ORAC in reducing the long delays that had been a feature of the asylum system.
A Protection Review Tribunal will replace the controversial Refugee Appeals Tribunal, whose decisions are frequently subject to judicial review and which recently lost a Supreme Court appeal against a High Court ruling that it should publish its decisions. Since then, it has published selected decisions.
The new body will consider decisions not to grant refugee status under the Geneva Convention and appeals against decisions not to grant people protection under the EU Qualification Directive.