International Protection Act 2026
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Interpretation | ||
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2. (1) In this Act— | ||
“absconding” means the action by which an applicant does not remain available to the competent administrative or judicial authorities of a Member State, such as by leaving the territory of the state without permission from the competent authorities, for reasons which are not beyond the applicant’s control; | ||
“Act of 1995” means the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 ; | ||
“Act of 1996” means the Refugee Act 1996 ; | ||
“Act of 1999” means the Immigration Act 1999 ; | ||
“Act of 2004” means the Immigration Act 2004 ; | ||
“Act of 2014” means the Companies Act 2014 ; | ||
“Act of 2015” means the International Protection Act 2015 ; | ||
“Act of 2018” means the Data Protection Act 2018 ; | ||
“actors of persecution or serious harm” shall be construed in accordance with Article 6 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“adequate capacity” means the adequate capacity of the State calculated by the European Commission in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Regulation; | ||
“admissibility interview” has the meaning given to it by section 157 (4); | ||
“adult” means a person who has attained the age of 18 years; | ||
“age assessment” has the meaning given to it by section 55 (1); | ||
“applicant”, other than in Part 14 and section 278 , means a third-country national or stateless person who— | ||
(a) has made an application for international protection in accordance with Chapter 1 of Part 3 or on whose behalf such an application has been, or is deemed to have been, made in accordance with that Chapter, and | ||
(b) has not had a final decision taken on his or her application; | ||
“applicant in need of special procedural guarantees” means an applicant whose ability to benefit from the rights and comply with the obligations provided for in the Asylum Procedures Regulation and this Act is limited due to individual circumstances, such as specific vulnerabilities; | ||
“application” (other than in the definition of “previous application”) means a request for international protection made in accordance with Chapter 1 of Part 3 ; | ||
“Asylum Agency” means the European Union Agency for Asylum established by the European Union Agency for Asylum Regulation; | ||
“Asylum and Migration Management Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 20249 on asylum and migration management, amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1147 and (EU) 2021/1060 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 604/2013; | ||
“Asylum Procedures Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 202410 establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/463 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 202611 and Regulation (EU) 2026/464 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 202612 ; | ||
“beneficiary of international protection” means a person who has been granted refugee status or subsidiary protection status; | ||
“biometric data” means fingerprint data and facial image data; | ||
“Chief Appeals Officer” means the person appointed by the Government under section 244 (5) to be the Chief Appeals Officer of the Tribunal; | ||
“Chief Inspector” has the meaning given to it by section 259 ; | ||
“civil partner” means a person in a civil partnership or legal relationship to which section 3 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 applies; | ||
“country of origin” has the meaning it has in the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“cultural mediator” means a person tasked with assisting applicants at specified points in the procedures under this Act by— | ||
(a) providing information to applicants, | ||
(b) supporting applicants, including in communication with officers of the Minister, and | ||
(c) completing such other tasks as may be necessary; | ||
“Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 201613 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation); | ||
“deportation order” shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Act of 1999; | ||
“Determining Authority” means the Minister as designated under section 7 ; | ||
“Directive 2008/115/EC” means Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 200814 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals; | ||
“document” includes— | ||
(a) any written matter, | ||
(b) any photograph, | ||
(c) any currency notes or counterfeit currency notes, | ||
(d) any information in non-legible form that is capable of being converted into legible form, | ||
(e) any audio or video recording, and | ||
(f) a travel document or an identity document; | ||
“enactment” has the meaning it has in the Interpretation Act 2005 ; | ||
“EU acts” means acts adopted by the institutions of the European Union for the purposes of managing migration and establishing a common asylum system at EU level and includes the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation, the Asylum Procedures Regulation, the Eurodac Regulation, the Qualification Regulation and the Reception Conditions Directive; | ||
“Eurodac” means the system known as “Eurodac” established under Article 1 of the Eurodac Regulation; | ||
“Eurodac Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2024/1358 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 202415 on the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of biometric data in order to effectively apply Regulations (EU) 2024/1351 and (EU) 2024/1350 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 2001/55/EC and to identify illegally staying third-country nationals and stateless persons and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States’ law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes, amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EU) No 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council; | ||
“European Convention on Human Rights” means the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms done at Rome on the 4th day of November, 1950; | ||
“European Union Agency for Asylum Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 202116 on the European Union Agency for Asylum and repealing Regulation (EU) No 439/2010; | ||
“facial image data” means digital images of the face with sufficient image resolution and quality to be used in automatic biometric matching; | ||
“final decision” has the meaning it has in the Asylum Procedures Regulation; | ||
“fingerprint data” means the data relating to plain and rolled impressions of the fingerprints of all ten fingers, where present, or a latent fingerprint; | ||
“Geneva Convention” means the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28 July 1951 (the text of which, in the English language, is, for convenience of reference, set out in Schedule 1) and includes the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on 31 January 1967 (the text of which, in the English language, is, for convenience of reference, set out in Schedule 2); | ||
“High Commissioner” means the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and includes the Representative for Ireland of the High Commissioner; | ||
“identity document” includes a passport, visa, transit visa, national identity card, entry permit, residence permit, driving licence, employment permit, birth certificate, marriage certificate or any other document establishing or contributing to establishing a person’s nationality or identity issued or purporting to be issued by or on behalf of a local or the national authority of a state, including the State, or by an organ or agency of the United Nations; | ||
“immigration officer” has the meaning it has in the Act of 2004; | ||
“information”, other than in section 284 , includes— | ||
(a) information in the form of a document (or any other thing) or in any other form, and | ||
(b) personal information, including biometric data; | ||
“International Criminal Court” means the International Criminal Court established under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court done at Rome on 17 July 1998; | ||
“international protection” means refugee status or subsidiary protection status; | ||
“international protection guardian” has the meaning that “guardian” has in the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“international tribunal” has the meaning it has in the International War Crimes Tribunals Act 1998 ; | ||
“legal counselling” means any guidance, information or assistance given to an applicant on matters relating to the application procedure by a person appointed under section 11B(1) of the Act of 1995 to provide legal counselling and shall include: | ||
(a) guidance on, and explanation of, the procedure in respect of an application, including information on the rights and obligations of the applicant during that procedure; | ||
(b) assistance with the lodging of an application; | ||
(c) guidance on: | ||
(i) the different procedures under which an application may be examined and the reasons for the use of those procedures; | ||
(ii) the rules related to the admissibility of an application; | ||
(iii) legal issues arising in the course of the procedure under which the application is examined, including information on how to make an appeal (within the meaning of Part 8 or section 140 , as the case may be); | ||
(iv) guidance on and explanation of the criteria and procedure for determining the Member State responsible in accordance with Part 6 and the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation, including information on rights and obligations during all stages of that procedure; | ||
(v) guidance on and assistance with providing information that could help determine the Member State responsible in accordance with the criteria set out in Chapter II of Part III of the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation; | ||
(vi) guidance and assistance on the template referred to in Article 22(1) of the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation; | ||
“legal representative” shall be construed in accordance with section 28 ; | ||
“Member State responsible” means the Member State responsible for the examination of an international protection application in accordance with the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation; | ||
“Minister” means the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration; | ||
“minor” means a third-country national or stateless person under the age of 18 years; | ||
“persecution” shall be construed in accordance with Article 9 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“person eligible for subsidiary protection” means a person— | ||
(a) who is not a national of a Member State, | ||
(b) who does not qualify as a refugee, | ||
(c) in respect of whom substantial grounds have been shown for believing that he or she, if returned to his or her country of origin, would face a real risk of suffering serious harm and who is unable or, owing to such risk, unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, and | ||
(d) who is not excluded from being eligible for subsidiary protection in accordance with Article 17 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“personal data” means personal data as defined in Article 4 of the Data Protection Regulation; | ||
“personal interview” means an admissibility interview or a substantive interview; | ||
“port” has the meaning it has in the Act of 2004; | ||
“practising barrister” has the meaning it has in the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 ; | ||
“practising solicitor” has the meaning it has in the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 ; | ||
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations; | ||
“previous application” means— | ||
(a) an application by a person made in accordance with Chapter 1 of Part 3 in respect of which a final decision has been taken, including where an application has been rejected as explicitly or implicitly withdrawn, | ||
(b) an application by a person in another Member State in respect of which a final decision has been taken, including where an application has been rejected as explicitly or implicitly withdrawn, | ||
(c) an application by a person under section 15 of the Act of 2015, in respect of which the Minister has refused to give a refugee declaration or a subsidiary protection declaration, | ||
(d) an application by a person under section 8 of the Act of 1996 in respect of which the Minister has refused to give a refugee declaration, | ||
(e) an application by a person under Regulation 3 of the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013 ( S.I. No. 426 of 2013 ) in respect of which the Minister has refused to give a subsidiary protection declaration, or | ||
(f) an application by a person under Regulation 4 of the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006 ( S.I. No. 518 of 2006 ) in respect of which the Minister has determined that the person is not a person eligible for subsidiary protection; | ||
“prison” means a place of custody administered by or on behalf of the Minister (other than a Garda Síochána station) and includes— | ||
(a) a place provided under section 2 of the Prisons Act 1970 , and | ||
(b) a place specified under section 3 of the Prisons Act 1972 ; | ||
“protection” (except where the context otherwise requires) means protection against persecution or serious harm and shall be construed in accordance with Article 7 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“provisional representative person”, in relation to an unaccompanied minor, means an individual designated under section 46 (1)(a) or section 47 (1) to be a provisional representative person in respect of that minor; | ||
“Qualification Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2024/1347 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 202417 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection and for the content of the protection granted, amending Council Directive 2003/109/EC and repealing Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council; | ||
“real risk of suffering serious harm” shall be construed in accordance with Article 5 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“Reception Conditions Directive” means Directive (EU) 2024/1346 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 202418 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast); | ||
“refugee” means— | ||
(a) a person who is— | ||
(i) a third-country national who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, or | ||
(ii) a stateless person who, being outside of the country of former habitual residence for the same reasons as referred to in subparagraph (i), is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to that country, | ||
and | ||
(b) who is not excluded from being a refugee in accordance with Article 12 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“refugee status” means the recognition by the State of a third-country national or a stateless person as a refugee; | ||
“registered medical practitioner” has the meaning it has in the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 ; | ||
“representative person”, in relation to an unaccompanied minor, means an individual appointed under section 46 (1)(b) or section 47 (2) to be a representative person in respect of that minor; | ||
“request to remain”, other than in Part 6 , has the meaning given to it by section 189 (1); | ||
“safe country of origin” means— | ||
(a) a country that has been designated by the Minister under section 279 as a safe country of origin, or | ||
(b) a country that has been designated at European Union level in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Regulation as a safe country of origin; | ||
“safe third country” means— | ||
(a) a country that has been designated by the Minister under section 280 as a safe third country, | ||
(b) a country that has been designated at European Union level in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Regulation as a safe third country, or | ||
(c) a country, other than a Member State or a country to which paragraph (a) or (b) applies, that is safe for a specific applicant provided that the conditions in section 280 (3) are met with regard to the applicant; | ||
“Screening Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2024/1356 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 202419 introducing the screening of third country nationals at the external borders and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/817; | ||
“ section 156 notification” has the meaning given to it by section 156 (1); | ||
“serious harm” has the meaning it has in Article 15 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“Service” means the Public Appointments Service; | ||
“staff of the Determining Authority” includes persons with whom the Minister or the Determining Authority has entered into a contract for services under section 277 ; | ||
“stateless person” has the meaning it has in the Asylum Procedures Regulation; | ||
“subsequent application” means an application by a person who has made a previous application; | ||
“subsidiary protection status” means the recognition by the State of a third-country national or a stateless person as a person eligible for subsidiary protection; | ||
“substantive interview” has the meaning given to it by section 164 (3); | ||
“Tribunal” means the body established under section 242 ; | ||
“unaccompanied minor” means— | ||
(a) a minor who arrives in the State unaccompanied by an adult responsible for him or her and for as long as that minor is not effectively taken into the care of such an adult, or | ||
(b) a minor who arrives in the State and, after such arrival, is left unaccompanied by an adult responsible for him or her, and for as long as that minor is not effectively taken into the care of such an adult; | ||
“Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Framework Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2024/1350 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 202420 establishing a Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Framework, and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1147; | ||
“well-founded fear of being persecuted” shall be construed in accordance with Article 5 of the Qualification Regulation; | ||
“withdrawal of international protection” means a decision by the Minister— | ||
(a) to withdraw refugee status in accordance with section 214 (1), or | ||
(b) to withdraw subsidiary protection status in accordance with section 214 (2). | ||
(2) For the purposes of this Act, Article 73 of the Asylum Procedures Regulation shall apply to the calculation of any period of time referred to in or under this Act. | ||
13 OJ No. L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1 14 OJ No. L 348, 24.12.2008, p. 98 |