BERKELEY SOLICITORS CALLS ON THE MINISTER TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF STATELESS PEOPLE IN IRELAND
It is a matter of great concern to Berkeley Solicitors that Ireland continues to deny stateless persons the right to have their status recognised contrary to the UN Convention for Stateless Persons.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has stated that:
‘Ireland continues to fail in meeting international standards for providing legal framework to protect stateless people and does not have sufficient safeguards in place to prevent and reduce statelessness from occurring through legal gaps.’
The first applicant in Ireland to obtain a declaration of ‘stateless’ status was in 2014, and a client of Ms Karen Berkeley. A summary of the case can be found at:
Acting for the client, Ms Berkeley commented that Ireland’s failure to establish an administrative process for stateless residents was a breach of its obligations under the 1954 Convention.
However, following this case no application procedure has yet been created by the Minister for Justice.
It is a very unsatisfactory situation that stateless persons generally have to apply for refugee status and fit their case into the narrow legal definition of a refugee.
Berkeley Solicitors calls on the Minister to establish a legal procedure for stateless persons in the UN Convention for Stateless Persons.
