THE GOVERNMENT WILL formally review the designation it has given to all current ‘safe countries of origin’ over the next year, it has emerged.

The designation applies to countries deemed to be safe for the purposes of asylum applications, precluding arrivals from those countries from obtaining refugee status.

Eight nations are currently given the designation in Ireland: Albania; Bosnia and Herzegovina; North Macedonia; Georgia; Kosovo; Montenegro; Serbia; and South Africa.

The concept of ‘safe countries of origin’ is used by EU member states as a ground for accelerating the examination of asylum claims made by nationals of those countries. The concept was first adopted in Irish law in 2004 and the current list was formalised in 2018. 

Under the International Protection Act 2015, a country is deemed ‘safe’ when the Minister for Justice (whose department oversees international protection in Ireland) believes that there is no general risk of persecution or violence from an armed conflict that exists in the relevant country.

In deciding which countries are ‘safe’, the Minister must consider a number of criteria, including the relevant laws and regulations of the country and how they are applied, and whether they comply with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Minister’s decision is also based on information from a number of sources, including from other EU Member States, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the High Commissioner and the Council of Europe.

Under law, arrivals from ‘safe’ countries may still apply for refugee status in Ireland if they can show that such a country is not safe for them to return to because of circumstances specific to them (for example, a threat of violence or persecution).

Figures disclosed by Department of Justice officials at the Oireachtas Committee on Integration earlier this week showed that around a quarter of the 13,651 people who sought international protection in Ireland last year were from a so-called ‘safe country’.

Official figures from the International Protection Office also show that the highest number of applicants for refugee status in Ireland last year were from Georgia, a ‘safe country’, making up almost one-fifth of all applicants in 2022.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Tuesday, Deputy Secretary General of the Department of Justice Doncha O’Sullivan said that the current list has been in place since 2018 and kept under review since then.

He also said a formal review of South Africa’s designation as a ‘safe’ country took place in 2021.

“Our plan is to do a formal review of most of the other countries this year, and all of them within the next 12 months,” O’Sullivan said.

“That will involve us looking at the most recent information from the [United Nations Refugee Agency] UNHCR, from the EU Asylum agency, from UN NGOs, Human Rights Watch and so on.

“Obviously we keep a general watching brief on those because of course we are dealing with applications from those countries.”

He added that there was no reason to believe that the Government’s overall position would change for any of the designated countries, but that this may happen in “a formal, legal way”.

The ‘safe country of origin’ list in Ireland continues to be applied in practice, namely in response to a significant increase in the numbers of applicants to Ireland from those countries since 2017.

Applicants coming from ‘safe’ countries can have their claims prioritised with lower procedural guarantees compared to other applicants.

There is no appeal against a designation that a person comes from a designated ‘safe country of origin’.

Since November of last year, the International Protection Office (IPO) has introduced new measures to further accelerate the asylum process for arrivals from countries designated as ‘safe’.

Around 950 people seeking asylum status have progressed through this fast-track system since, with around three-quarters of those applications having already been ruled on – two-thirds of which were refused by the IPO (though an appeal is allowed).

Additional reporting by Jane Moore