A judge yesterday ordered the continued detention of an asylum-seeker claiming to be an Iraqi Kurd but who gardaí believe is hiding his true identity.
The 21-year-old man has failed to take reasonable steps to establish his identity, despite having been here for 17 days and having lodged an application for refugee status, according to gardaí.
Dublin District Court heard he claimed to be an Iraqi Kurd but spoke neither Arabic or Kurdish. He claimed to have worked at a US military base and had travelled overland from Iraq to Turkey and flew to Ireland via Amsterdam.
Garda Brendan Ó Sumachaín, of the National Immigration Bureau, said he made no application for asylum at Dublin Airport and only did so subsequent to his incarceration.
He had no identity papers and made no effort to supply any in the last two weeks. If he worked in a US military base, he would have had some kind of identification. The fact that he did not speak any language of what he claimed to be his home country led gardaí to believe he was not an Iraqi.
His solicitor said that following his asylum application, the Refugee Appeals Commissioner had undertaken to give him temporary status and fast-track his application. At best, this process takes four months and in the meantime accommodation was available for him.
His solicitor asked that he be released by the court pending the determination of this application because otherwise what would be happening would be "preventative detention".
Judge William Early said he was satisfied the applicant had not made reasonable efforts to establish his identity, and he ordered his continued detention for another two weeks.