Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 April 2024
250. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons registering at the IPO in Dublin for each of the past five years and for each month this year; if she will provide a breakdown of the routes immigrants are taking into the country; and the proportion of persons who came through these routes in the past five years. [17164/24]
Amharc ar fhreagra251. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the number of asylum seekers who have come from Britain through the North of Ireland to the South of Ireland in the past five years and for each month this year. [17165/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 250 and 251 together.
The Department takes all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.
The State is required to examine the application of anyone who presents at the borders of the State, or is in the State, and indicates that they wish to make an application for international protection. This is in accordance with our obligations under international and EU asylum law and the Government takes those commitments very seriously.
It must be noted that an applicant is not legally obliged to make an application for international protection at a designated port of entry. An applicant can lodge their initial application directly with the IPO after arrival in the State.
At the International Protection Office where full applications are lodged, information provided by applicants in support of their application, including documents concerning their identity, and route travelled to Ireland are recorded as part of the applicants file, but are not stored in a manner which allows detailed data to be extracted in the manner sought by the Deputy. It is also the case that this data is provided directly by the applicants and therefore it is not possible to verify, based on the fact that there are no border checks or border infrastructure between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Maintaining an open border was a priority for the Government during Brexit negotiations.
There is ongoing cooperation with the UK on both immigration and law enforcement matters. The Common Travel Area Forum (CTAF), established in 2011, acts as a steering committee for the ongoing work of protecting the CTA in relation to free movement of its citizens between both countries while at the same time ensuring that the CTA is not abused by those not entitled to avail of it. The Forum meets twice yearly but also meets in sub-group format to address particular elements of Ireland/UK co-operation, bringing together relevant subject matter expertise in various areas.
There is also very good co-operation at operational level between the Irish Border Management Unit (BMU), Garda National immigration Bureau (GNIB) and colleagues in the UK Border Force and Immigration Enforcement. This includes a number of ongoing operations, in co-operation with the UK, tackling abuses of the CTA by identifying illegal secondary movement patterns within the CTA and taking effective actions to disrupt abuse of those routes.
The tables below provides the breakdown of the number of international protection applications recorded between 2019 and 2024 by “place of application”. Information on how a person enters the country when not through a designated port, including by travelling over the land border, is not recorded.
IP Applications - Place of Application
|
Year of Application |
IPO |
Airports |
Ports |
Other |
Total |
|
Year of Application |
IPO |
Airports |
Ports |
Other |
Total |
|
2019 |
2,277 |
2,384 |
9 |
112 |
4,782 |
|
2020 |
1,239 |
284 |
4 |
39 |
1,566 |
|
2021 |
2,101 |
513 |
9 |
25 |
2,648 |
|
2022 |
8,782 |
4,795 |
35 |
33 |
13,645 |
|
2023 |
10,380 |
2,857 |
5 |
28 |
13,270 |
|
2024(to end of Mar) |
4,715 |
420 |
0 |
28 |
5,163 |
|
2024** |
IPO |
Airports |
Ports |
Other |
Total |
|
Jan |
1610 |
158 |
0 |
5 |
1773 |
|
Feb |
1428 |
137 |
0 |
4 |
1,569 |
|
Mar |
1677 |
125 |
0 |
19 |
1,821 |
|
Total |
4715 |
420 |
0 |
28 |
5,163 |
**Up to 31st March 2024
*Data provided is correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.
