The 1951 United Nations Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as someone with a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country on grounds of race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Ireland has incorporated the Geneva Convention into its 1996 Refugee Act. People who have applied to become refugees are called asylum-seekers until granted refugee status.
Refugees fall into two categories:
Convention refugees are those who come within the Geneva Convention's definition of a refugee. They are entitled to live in the State permanently, work without a work permit and receive health, education, housing and other public services on the same basis as an Irish national. They can travel outside the State, apply for family reunification and, after three years, Irish citizenship. Their children receive English language support from the Department of Education's Refugees Support Unit. Some 907 people were granted refugee status up to the end of last month; 527 at the first round, 380 following appeal.
Programme refugees are people invited to the State "for temporary protection or resettlement". They usually enter in a group in response to a humanitarian crisis, such as the recent wars in the former Yugoslavia. The do not have to go through the asylum application process. The Irish Refugee Agency co-ordinates the reception of programme refugees, which includes language classes. They have the same rights as convention refugees (see above). There are currently several thousand programme refugees in Ireland.
Leave to Remain: Asylum-seekers whose application under the Geneva Convention has been turned down may, at the discretion of the Minister for Justice, be allowed to stay in the State on humanitarian grounds on a temporary basis. They are eligible to work, but may subsequently be asked to leave or be deported. Sixty-three people have been granted leave to remain.
Residency: If an asylum-seeker has a child born in Ireland, the child automatically becomes an Irish citizen. The child's parents then become eligible for residency status, which is renewable annually. More than 1,300 people have been granted residency.