No plans for Afghanistan deportations, official says

Asylum process: None of the 41 Afghan hunger strikers had a deportation order against them and it is understood none had exhausted the asylum process. A senior source in the Garda National Immigration Bureau said yesterday that no deportations to Afghanistan were in train.

"There was none in train, nothing planned for Afghanistan," said the source. "In my two years here we have had no deportations to Afghanistan. If we did we would transfer them back to the first country they landed in [before coming to Ireland]."

He said there was "obviously some common purpose for the protest in the cathedral" but "we have not identified" it.

It is also understood that one hunger striker had already been granted refugee status and another had been granted humanitarian leave to remain.

According to the Department of Justice, a hunger striker had made an asylum application in late 2003, 18 had applied in 2004, 17 in 2005 and four applications were made this year. The most recent was made in March.

When an asylum seeker enters the State he or she must make an application to the Refugee Applications Commissioner. This is assessed under criteria set out in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees.

If an applicant is refused at this stage, he or she can appeal to the 35-member Refugee Appeals Tribunal - a body that has been the subject of controversy in the past year. The tribunal is appealing a High Court ruling last year that it must publish its decisions.

There have been numerous criticisms about inconsistencies and lack of transparency in the tribunal's decision-making.