International Protection Act 2026
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Temporary protection | ||
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237. (1) This section applies to a displaced person to whom, following a Council Decision under Article 5 of the Temporary Protection Directive, permission to enter and remain in the State for temporary protection as part of a specific group of such displaced persons has been given by the Government or the Minister and whose personal data is entered in the register referred to in subsection (2). | ||
(2) The Minister shall, as soon as practicable after the coming into operation of this section, cause to be established and maintained, in such form as he or she considers appropriate, a register of displaced persons referred to in subsection (1), to be known as the Register of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection. | ||
(3) The Minister shall exclude a displaced person from temporary protection and shall not give the person a permission in accordance with subsection (8) if— | ||
(a) there are serious reasons for considering that— | ||
(i) he or she has committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes, or | ||
(ii) he or she has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations as set out in the Preamble to, and Articles 1 and 2, of the Charter of the United Nations and embodied in its resolutions relating to measures countering terrorism, | ||
(b) there are reasonable grounds for regarding him or her as a danger to the security of the State, | ||
(c) subject to subsection (4), the Minister is of the opinion that he or she constitutes a danger to the community of the State because he or she was convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, whether in the State or elsewhere, or | ||
(d) subject to subsection (4), there are serious reasons for considering that he or she has committed a serious non-political crime outside the State prior to his or her entry into the State. | ||
(4) In considering whether to exclude a displaced person from temporary protection under paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (3), the Minister shall consider the reasons underlying the Council Decision concerned as they relate to the displaced person and the nature of the crime concerned. | ||
(5) Paragraph (d) of subsection (3) applies both to the participants in, and the persons who have instigated, a crime referred to in that paragraph. | ||
(6) The Minister shall not give to a displaced person a permission in accordance with subsection (8) where he or she— | ||
(a) is a Union citizen as defined in Regulation 2 of the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 548 of 2015 ), | ||
(b) holds a valid residence permit from another Member State issued in accordance with Article 8 of the Temporary Protection Directive, | ||
(c) has an application for international protection under consideration within the meaning of the Act of 2015, or | ||
(d) is an applicant within the meaning of this Act. | ||
(7) A person who is given a permission under subsection (8) may not hold another permission that requires registration under the Act of 2004. | ||
(8) The Minister shall, subject to subsections (3) and (6), give to a displaced person to whom this section applies a permission to reside in the State and— | ||
(a) if required, issue him or her with an Irish visa or an Irish transit visa, and | ||
(b) provide him or her with information, in a language that he or she understands or is reasonably supposed to understand, setting out the provisions of this section relating to temporary protection in the State. | ||
(9) Subject to section 238 (1)(a), a permission to reside in the State given under subsection (8) shall be valid for at least one year and may be extended in accordance with Article 4 of the Temporary Protection Directive. | ||
(10) Where, during the period of validity of a permission to reside in the State referred to in subsection (9), the permission holder concerned seeks to enter another Member State or has entered it without authorisation, the Minister may, in cooperation with the competent authority of that Member State, make arrangements for the return of the person to the State. | ||
(11) Without prejudice to section 238 , a permission holder, whose permission is valid, shall be entitled— | ||
(a) to seek and enter employment, to engage in any business, trade or profession and to have access to education and training in the State in the like manner and to the like extent in all respects as an Irish citizen, | ||
(b) to receive, upon and subject to the same conditions applicable to Irish citizens, the same medical care and, other than while he or she is resident in a designated premises, the same social welfare benefits as those to which Irish citizens are entitled, and | ||
(c) to the same rights of travel in the State as those to which Irish citizens are entitled. | ||
(12) For the purposes of Article 15 of the Temporary Protection Directive, the Minister shall cooperate with the competent authorities of another Member State in relation to— | ||
(a) the transfer to another Member State, | ||
(b) the transfer from another Member State to the State, | ||
(c) the reunification in the State of family members, and | ||
(d) the reunification in another Member State of family members, | ||
of a permission holder. | ||
(13) The Minister may prescribe documentation to be used for the purpose of enabling and facilitating transfers and reunifications referred to in subsection (12). | ||
(14) The Minister may, to the extent necessary and proportionate for the purposes of subsection (12), provide to the competent authority of another Member State, relating to the permission holder concerned, insofar as they are available— | ||
(a) personal data, | ||
(b) travel documents, | ||
(c) documents concerning evidence of family ties (such as marriage certificates, birth certificates and certificates of adoption), | ||
(d) other information required to establish the identity of the person or his or her family relationships, | ||
(e) residence permits and decisions concerning the giving or refusal of visas or residence permissions to the person by the Minister, and documents forming the basis of those decisions, | ||
(f) applications for visas or entry permissions or residence permissions submitted by the person and pending in the State, and information relating to the stage reached in the processing of these, and | ||
(g) any amended information within paragraphs (a) to (f) which becomes available. | ||
(15) For the purposes of this section, the Minister may, where he or she is satisfied that the premises concerned are suitable for the purpose, designate in writing such and so many premises as he or she considers appropriate for the accommodation of persons who have been given a permission to reside in the State under subsection (8), which permission is valid. | ||
(16) A premises designated under section 60(14A) of the Act of 2015 shall be deemed to be designated under subsection (15). | ||
(17) A person who— | ||
(a) for the purposes of seeking an entitlement conferred by this section, gives or makes any statement, declaration or information which is to his or her knowledge false or misleading in a material particular, | ||
(b) for the purposes of seeking an entitlement conferred by this section, destroys or conceals documents with intent to deceive, or | ||
(c) forges, fraudulently alters, assists in forging or fraudulently altering or procures the forging or fraudulent alteration of any document for reward where such documents are used or intended to be used in connection with seeking an entitlement conferred by this section, | ||
shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(18) A person who commits an offence under subsection (17) shall be liable— | ||
(a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, or | ||
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or both. |