Austin Deasy
Question:57 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the plans, if any, the Government has to reduce the degree of illegal immigration into this country. [2641/00]
Other Questions. - Illegal Immigration.
Illegal immigration to Ireland is most often associated with the abuse of the asylum system, which is being encouraged by internationally organised criminal elements who engage in widespread trafficking in human beings across European boundaries. A number of measures have been or are in the process of being introduced, or are under consideration with a view to dealing with this problem.
Under the Aliens Order (No. 3), 1997, immigration officers have the power to carry out checks on persons arriving in the State from elsewhere in the common travel area and to refuse such persons leave to land on the same grounds as apply to persons arriving from outside the common travel area. These checks are selective to avoid interfering with the freedom of movement enjoyed by all Irish and UK citizens.
The Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill, currently before the House, criminalises the activities of traffickers. The Minister also plans to introduce fingerprinting of asylum seekers to deter multiple applications and facilitate the identification of persons who have already applied for asylum in other EU states. Other measures being considered include the introduction of carriers' liability, under which carriers bringing inappropriately documented persons to Ireland would be penalised.
It is necessary to be mindful of the difficulties involved in dealing with illegal immigration. People who genuinely qualify for refugee status may, and frequently do, arrive here together with those whose primary purpose is to enter the State for economic reasons. As often as not, there is no way of knowing, without making the necessary inquiries, whose application for refugee status is genuine and whose is not. Given the difficulties which inevitably arise in checking information provided about the circumstances prevailing in the applicant's claimed country of origin and information which may be in the possession of other jurisdictions visited by the applicant, the process of assessment and inquiry inevitably takes time, no matter how efficient the application processing system might be. Short cut approaches would clearly be inconsistent with the requirement that we follow due process and respect the rights of each individual, regardless of whether his or her claim is genuine.
Ireland, together with all other countries which are signatories to the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, is obliged to consider each and every claim for asylum made by non-nationals arriving here in accordance with internationally accepted norms and procedures.
Illegal immigrants do a great disservice to genuine asylum seekers. They screw up the whole system. There should be a mechanism in place to see that the genuine asylum seekers are granted asylum and that economic migrants who come from countries which have no political, religious or ethnic persecution are not even accepted into the State never mind have their applications processed.
Of the illegal immigrants entering the State, over 80% are entering through Northern Ireland, not Rosslare or the other ports which are so highly publicised. We must do something quickly. There should be a treaty with these countries, many of which are applicants for membership of the European Union, to ensure these people are re-admitted to their own countries rather than allowed to stay here when they clearly have no hope of getting political asylum.
Persons arriving in Ireland from Northern Ireland and the UK, including those who arrive through the various mechanisms referred to by the Deputy, are subject to ad hoc checks only. While many people undoubtedly take advantage of this, the Minister would be reluctant to make these checks systematic having regard to the enormous benefits of the common travel area provided for Irish and UK nationals. He is not convinced that asking the Garda Commissioner to devote resources to this type of border control would be either efficient or effective having regard to the very large number of possible crossing points and the disruption that could result for genuine travellers. Abuse of the common travel area is better addressed, on balance, by other measures and initiatives, such as the Illegal Trafficking Bill, currently at Committee Stage, and the planned introduction of fingerprinting of asylum seekers. These should assist in identifying persons who seek to abuse the system without imposing unreasonable restrictions on the genuine traveller.
Arising from the Minister of State's assertion that illegal immigration is related to our asylum seeking process, will she tell the House the number of deportation orders issued since the beginning of this year and the number of notices issued under the terms of the Dublin Convention in recent months?
I do not have that information but I will forward it to the Deputy.
(Mayo): Does the Minister of State accept that a twin track approach is needed? We need an asylum channel and an economic immigrants channel?
Hear, hear.
(Mayo): It should be put in place as a matter of urgency. The reason Mount Street is chock-a-block is we do not have any clear immigration policy. We should determine the skills and labour needs required to keep the economy going. Then we should proactively advertise for people to come here on the basis of our economic requirements.
Does the Minister consult the Council of Europe which is the expert forum as regards human rights in Europe? It knows the countries where there is political persecution. People from countries where there is no persecution should not be allowed in here.
We have received the third highest number of asylum applications per head of population in the EU. There is not any indication of a dramatic rise or decrease in the coming months and this suggests that asylum applications this year will be in the region of 12,000 to 15,000. These are asylum applications. Deputy Higgins spoke about asylum seekers on the one hand and illegal immigrants on the other. We all know that a huge number of illegal immigrants are applying for asylum. With regard to Deputy Deasy's question, I am certain that consultations take place. There is important information in the Council of Europe and I will make sure that officials in my Department are in regular contact with it.