• You will be notified in writing of a time, a date and a place to attend for interview in connection with your application.
• If you require an interpreter, every reasonable effort will be made to provide one. You should indicate the language you require when you are confirming your attendance for interview.
• If, for some exceptional reason, you cannot attend for interview, either you or your solicitor must contact the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner immediately and outline the reasons.
• If you fail to attend for interview on more than one occasion, without reasonable cause, the Refugee Applications Commissioner will make a recommendation that you should not be declared a refugee.

About your interview (called substantive interview)
The purpose of the interview is to establish the full details of your claim for a declaration as a refugee.

• You should explain clearly and precisely your fears and provide all the information and details relevant to your particular circumstances.
• The interview is your opportunity to explain in detail why you fear returning to your country of origin.
• Credibility is very important at the interview. It is your duty to co-operate fully and to be completely truthful. Failure to do so may result in your application being deemed to be manifestly unfounded.
• The Authorised Officer who will interview you on behalf of the Refugee Applications Commissioner has received full training from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in interviewing persons seeking a declaration as a refugee and will have detailed information available on your country of origin.
• The interviewer will keep a written record of the interview. You will have an opportunity to review the record and you will be asked to sign each page to confirm that it is an accurate account of your interview. The interviewer will also sign each page. If you feel anything written down is not accurate, you will be given an opportunity to have it corrected.
• Your interview may take a number of hours to complete, depending on the information necessary to assess your application.
• The sole function of an interpreter (if present) is to interpret the interviewer's questions and your responses, accurately and literally. The interpreter will neither offer advice to you nor will he/she express any opinion on the merits of your case. The interpreter is aware of the confidential nature of the interview.
• If you wish to bring a solicitor with you, he/she will normally be allowed to observe at the interview. Your solicitor will be given an opportunity at the end of the interview to make any points that are considered necessary.
• There are no facilities for children in the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, so arrangements should be made by you to have your children looked after while you attend for interview.
• You or your solicitor may make written observations at any time up to 7 working days following the interview.
• You should make all information relevant to your application available to the Refugee Applications Commissioner. If you do not do so and seek to bring forward additional information at appeal stage, you will be required to explain why this information was not made available to the Refugee Applications Commissioner.

Assessment of your application
An Authorised Officer will submit a report to the Refugee Applications Commissioner in relation to your application. This report will be based on the matters raised by you in writing and orally at your interviews. The report will also take into account other matters that the officer considers appropriate, for example, information in relation to the situation in your country of origin or representations made by the UNHCR in connection with your application. A copy of this report will be sent to you with the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.

Manifestly unfounded applications.
An application may be deemed to be manifestly unfounded for a number of reasons. The Refugee Applications Commissioner may arrive at this opinion prior to or after your substantive interview:
prior to the interview - you will be notified of this opinion in writing and the reasons for it will be included. You will be requested to attend for interview at a date, time and place specified.
after the interview - you will be sent a copy of the recommendation and the reasons for it. A copy will also be sent to your solicitor (if known).

Grounds on which an application may be deemed to be manifestly unfounded
A manifestly unfounded application means an application:

• that does not show on its face any grounds for the contention that the applicant is a refugee,
• in relation to which the applicant gave clearly insufficient details or evidence to substantiate his/her application,
• in relation to which the Refugee Applications Commissioner is satisfied that the applicant's reason for leaving or not returning to his/her country of nationality does not relate to a fear of persecution,
• in relation to which the applicant did not reveal following the making of an application that he/she was travelling under a false identity or was in possession of a false or forged identity documents and did not have reasonable cause for not revealing this,
  in relation to which the applicant, without reasonable cause, made deliberately false or misleading representations of a material or substantial nature in relation to his/her application,
• in relation to which the applicant, without reasonable cause and in bad faith, destroyed identity documents, withheld relevant information or otherwise deliberately obstructed the investigation of his/her application,
• in relation to which the applicant deliberately failed to reveal that he/she had lodged a prior application for asylum in another country,
• in relation to which the applicant submitted the application for the sole purpose of avoiding removal from the state, prior to which the applicant had made an application for a declaration or an application for recognition as a refugee in a state party to the Geneva Convention, and the Refugee Applications Commissioner is satisfied that his/her application was properly considered and rejected and that the applicant has failed to show a material change of circumstances,
• by an applicant who is a national of or has a right of residence in a state party to the Geneva Convention in respect of which the applicant has failed to adduce evidence of persecution,
• by an applicant who, after making the application has, without reasonable cause, left the state without leave or permission or has not replied to communications addressed to the person from the Refugee Applications Commissioner, or prior to which the applicant has been recognised as a refugee under the Geneva Convention by a state other than the Irish state, has been granted asylum in that state and his/her reason for leaving or not returning to that state does not relate to a fear of persecution in that state.

Positive recommendations by the Refugee Applications Commissioner.
Where your application for a declaration as a refugee receives a positive recommendation from the Refugee Applications Commissioner, your recommendation will be submitted to the Minister for Justice who will make a declaration that you are a refugee. You will be given a declaration in writing stating that you are a refugee.