Asylum bid bound to fail

There was a flurry of excitement when it emerged Edward Snowden applied to Ireland for asylum, but it may not have been a wise move, says Noel Baker.

IF Edward Snowden ever pitched up at Dublin Airport on the F7888 direct flight from Moscow to Dublin on a Saturday, he might have more than one reason to regret his choice.

Firstly, while landing on Irish soil would finally allow any asylum application process to begin, Section 25 of the Refugee Act 1996 might bring a halt to his gallop: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as preventing the extradition of a person in accordance with the provisions of the Extradition Acts, 1965 to 1994.”

It’s just another reason why Snowden’s bid to come to Ireland was never going to get off the ground, and according to refugee campaign groups, he might be better off.

The world’s most wanted whistleblower is still floating around the vicinity of Moscow Airport and has issued asylum applications to 21 countries as he seeks to avoid being brought back to the US to answer questions over his disclosure over the scale of surveillance carried out by that country’s National Security Agency (NSA).

The news that Ireland was among the countries to which Snowden had applied prompted tremors of excitement in the media and internet message boards, even though the prospect is extremely remote, if not downright fantastical.

The Department of Justice quickly pointed out that it can only deal with asylum claims from people already in the country — meaning Snowden would somehow have to gain entry to Ireland, which in all likelihood would mean the only direct air route between Russia and Ireland — the aforementioned flight that would land in Dublin Airport at 10.15pm having departed Moscow at 8.50pm, local time.

Snowden applied for asylum here via a fax sent to the Irish embassy in Moscow. However, under section five of the Refugee Act, there is no obligation on the State to respond to applications in which the person seeking asylum is not present in the State — and this appears to extend to the Irish embassy, just in case Snowden attempted to copy Julian Assange’s example of taking up residence in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

According to Sharon Waters, information officer with the Irish Refugee Council (IRC), the current state of the asylum process would provide little in the way of comfort were he to make it here. “It has got worse in many ways,” she says of a system that the Government pledged to repair on taking office.

Applying at the airport for asylum, he would be interviewed and provided with a questionnaire before being sent to a reception centre, most likely Balseskin on the other side of the M50 from Finglas.

No free legal aid would be open to him at this stage, although he could avail of the IRC’s legal service, and his dates for further interview would be set. In due course, his accommodation would be decided upon, which could be any one of the 35 direct provision centres around the country in 17 different counties.

“It could be any one of them,” Ms Waters said. “Most likely it would be a mixed centre and he would be sharing a room with other men.”

At that stage the process would begin its often long and winding way to a decision as to his status. Even if there was a quick decision — and Ireland typically has a very low rate of acceptance of asylum claims — the appeals process would take even more time. The IRC claimed that most people typically spend at least three years in the asylum system. Moreover, just 80 people have been granted subsidiary protection, a secondary form of protection other than refugee status. In any case, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service is currently revising its procedures regarding subsidiary protection.

If Snowden was looking to grasp one final straw, it could be leave to remain, which is ultimately a decision for the minister of the day.

“It is a political issue at that stage,” Ms Waters said. “Leave to remain is entirely discretionary.”

The rate of leave to remain in Ireland is quite low, and that is without considering some of the other factors that make Snowden’s entirely unlikely asylum chances here even more remote.

Of the countries to which Snowden has applied for asylum, all bar two — Russia and China — has a bilateral extradition treaty with the US. He would also not be fast-tracked through the process, and according to a Department of Justice spokesman, the former NSA contractor would have his case judged on its merits, with the burden of proof on the applicant to prove that he was legitimately seeking asylum on one of the five stated grounds permitted by the act.

That is without mentioning the sticky position of the Government in granting sanctuary to man who is being desperately sought by the US. It makes you wonder just how much research went into the Irish asylum claim. “It looks like he got out a map and started sending letters,” Ms Waters said. In any case, from an Irish Government point of view, this one is definitely an example of Return To Sender.