International Protection Act 2026

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Assessment of admissibility of application

157. (1) The Determining Authority shall assess the admissibility of an application in accordance with the basic principles and guarantees provided for in Chapter II of the Asylum Procedures Regulation.

(2) The Determining Authority shall reject an application as inadmissible where—

(a) the application is a subsequent application, and

(b) no new relevant elements as referred to in Article 55 of the Asylum Procedures Regulation relating to—

(i) the examination of whether the applicant qualifies as a beneficiary of international protection in accordance with the Qualification Regulation, or

(ii) the inadmissibility ground previously applied,

have arisen or have been presented by the applicant.

(3) The Determining Authority may reject an application as inadmissible where any of the following grounds applies:

(a) a country which is not a Member State is considered to be a first country of asylum for the applicant, unless it is clear that the applicant will not be admitted or readmitted to that country;

(b) a country which is not a Member State is considered to be a safe third country for the applicant, unless it is clear that the applicant will not be admitted or readmitted to that country;

(c) a Member State other than the State has granted the applicant international protection;

(d) the International Criminal Court or an international tribunal has provided safe relocation for the applicant to a Member State or third country, or is unequivocally undertaking actions to that effect, unless new relevant circumstances have arisen which have not been taken into account by the court or tribunal or where there was no legal possibility to raise circumstances relevant to internationally recognised human rights standards before that court or tribunal;

(e) the applicant concerned—

(i) was issued with—

(I) a deportation order,

(II) a return order under section 51A of the Act of 2015,

(III) a return decision under section 216 or 218 , or

(IV) a return decision in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 2008/115/EC,

and

(ii) made his or her application more than 7 working days from the date on which the applicant received that order or decision,

provided that he or she had been informed of the consequences of not making an application within that time limit and that no new relevant elements have arisen since the end of that period that were not previously considered by the Minister (under section 3(3)(b) of the Act of 1999 or otherwise).

(4) Without prejudice to subsection (3), before a decision is taken by the Determining Authority on the inadmissibility of an application the Determining Authority shall give the applicant the opportunity of a personal interview on admissibility (referred to in this Act as an “admissibility interview”).

(5) The Determining Authority may fix the time and place of the admissibility interview.

(6) In the admissibility interview, the applicant shall be given an opportunity to provide reasons as to why the inadmissibility grounds provided for in subsections (2) and (3) are not applicable to him or her.