INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION ACT 2015

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Number 66 of 2015

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INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION ACT 2015

REVISED

Updated to 1 January 2021

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This Revised Act is an administrative consolidation of the International Protection Act 2015. It is prepared by the Law Reform Commission in accordance with its function under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975 (3/1975) to keep the law under review and to undertake revision and consolidation of statute law.

All Acts up to and including the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (32/2020), enacted 28 December 2020, and all statutory instruments up to and including the Medicinal Products (Control of Wholesale Distribution) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. No. 1 of 2021), made 4 January 2021, were considered in the preparation of this Revised Act.

Disclaimer: While every care has been taken in the preparation of this Revised Act, the Law Reform Commission can assume no responsibility for and give no guarantees, undertakings or warranties concerning the accuracy, completeness or up to date nature of the information provided and does not accept any liability whatsoever arising from any errors or omissions. Please notify any errors, omissions and comments by email to

revisedacts@lawreform.ie.

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Number 66 of 2015

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INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION ACT 2015

REVISED

Updated to 1 January 2021

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Introduction

This Revised Act presents the text of the Act as it has been amended since enactment, and preserves the format in which it was passed.

Related legislation

This Act is not collectively cited with any other Act.

Annotations

This Revised Act is annotated and includes textual and non-textual amendments, statutory instruments made pursuant to the Act and previous affecting provisions.

An explanation of how to read annotations is available at

www.lawreform.ie/annotations.

Material not updated in this revision

Where other legislation is amended by this Act, those amendments may have been superseded by other amendments in other legislation, or the amended legislation may have been repealed or revoked. This information is not represented in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the amended legislation if one is available.

Where legislation or a fragment of legislation is referred to in annotations, changes to this legislation or fragment may not be reflected in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the legislation referred to if one is available.

A list of legislative changes to any Act, and to statutory instruments from 1972, may be found linked from the page of the Act or statutory instrument at

www.irishstatutebook.ie.

Acts which affect or previously affected this revision

• Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020(23/2020)

All Acts up to and including Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (32/2020), enacted 28 December 2020, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

Statutory instruments which affect or previously affected this revision

• International Protection Act 2015 (Section 51B) (Places of Detention) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 727 of 2020)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Return Order) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 726 of 2020)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Safe Third Country) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 725 of 2020)

• Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 (Section 31) (International Protection Appeals Tribunal) (Designation) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 715 of 2020)

• Disability, Equality, Human Rights, Integration and Reception (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 436 of 2020)

• European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 230 of 2018)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Safe Countries of Origin) Order 2018 (S.I. No. 121 of 2018)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Section 6(2)(j)) (Commencement) Order 2018 (S.I. No. 119 of 2018)

• European Union (Dublin System) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 62 of 2018)

• European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 409 of 2017)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Procedures and Periods for Appeals) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 116 of 2017)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Deportation) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 668 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Travel Document) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 667 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Places of Detention) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 666 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Voluntary Return) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 665 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Permission to Remain) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 664 of 2017)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Commencement) (No. 3) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 663 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Temporary Residence Certificate) (Prescribed Information) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 662 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Establishment Day) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 661 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Application for International Protection Form) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 660 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Commencement) (No. 2) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 133 of 2016)

• International Protection Act 2015 (Commencement) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 26 of 2016)

All statutory instruments up to and including Medicinal Products (Control of Wholesale Distribution) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. No. 1 of 2021), made 4 January 2021, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

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Number 66 of 2015

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INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION ACT 2015

REVISED

Updated to 1 January 2021

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Acts Referred to

Child and Family Agency Act 2013 (No. 40)

Child Care Acts 1991 to 2013

Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 (No. 32)

Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (No. 24)

Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014 (No. 11)

European Parliament Elections Act 1997 (No. 2)

Health Acts 1947 to 2015

Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 (No. 29)

Immigration Act 1999 (No. 22)

Immigration Act 2003 (No. 26)

Immigration Act 2004 (No. 1)

Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (No. 25)

Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 (No. 33)

Refugee Act 1996 (No. 17)

Social Welfare Acts

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Number 66 of 2015

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INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION ACT 2015

REVISED

Updated to 1 January 2021

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An Act to restate and modify certain aspects of the law relating to the entry into and presence in the State of persons in need of international protection, while having regard also to the power of the Executive in relation to these matters, to give further effect to Council Directive 2001/55/EC of 20 July 2001¹ on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof, to give further effect to Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004² on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, to give further effect to Council Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005³ on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status, to give further effect to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on the 28th day of July 1951 and the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on the 31st day of January 1967, to amend the Immigration Act 1999, the Immigration Act 2003 and the Immigration Act 2004, to amend or repeal certain other enactments, and to provide for related matters.

[30 th December, 2015]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

Annotations

Modifications (not altering text):

C1

Act applied with modifications (6.03.2018) by European Union (Dublin System) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 62 of 2018), regs. 12(2), 15.

Applicant under section 8 of the Refugee Act 1996 or under section 15 of Act of 2015 to whom Article 18(1)(c) applies

12. ...

(2) A person to whom this Regulation applies shall, notwithstanding section 22 of the Act of 2015, but without prejudice to section 21 of that Act, be deemed to have made, on the date on which this Regulation first applies to him or her, an application for international protection under section 15 of that Act, and, subject to this Regulation, the provisions of that Act shall, with any necessary modifications, apply accordingly.

...

Person to whom Regulation 13(2) or 14(2) applies.

15. Where a person is deemed under Regulation 13(2) or 14(2) to have made an application for international protection under section 15 of the Act of 2015, the provisions of that Act shall apply to the application, with the following modifications and any other necessary modifications—

(a) the application shall be deemed not to be an application for status in the State as a refugee on the basis of a refugee declaration but to be an application only for status in the State as a person eligible for subsidiary protection on the basis of a subsidiary protection declaration,

(b) for the purposes of the examination under Part 5 of that Act of the application, the person shall be deemed to be a person who should not be given a refugee declaration,

(c) for the purposes of section 39(3) of that Act—

(i) a recommendation referred to in paragraph (a) of that subsection shall not be made in respect of the person, and

(ii) the recommendation of the Refugee...