IRELAND is facing a surge in asylum seekers, with most now bypassing airports and ports to report directly to the IPO HQ in Dublin.
A briefing document provided to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan earlier this year advised that the number of international protection applicants hit an all-time high last year, with officials now ramping up deportations.
The number of people arriving in Ireland to claim asylum has soared since the end of the pandemic, with the last government struggling to find enough accommodation to deal with the rise.
Figures in a briefing document show that some 4,783 people applied for asylum in Ireland in 2019 which dropped to 1,567 in 2020 and 2,659 in 2021 when Covid-19 travel restrictions were in place.
However, the number of people seeking international protection here has soared since 2022, when 13,654 applications were received, followed by 13,276 in 2023 and a record 18,599 in 2024.
The briefing also raises concerns about how people are arriving here.
Officials warned that the majority of asylum seekers who arrived in Ireland in 2024 made their initial application at the International Protection Office, as opposed to at an airport or port.
In April last year, then-Justice Minister Helen McEntee claimed that more than 80 per cent of asylum seekers arriving here were coming into the country from Northern Ireland.
The figure were questioned at the time by human rights and refugee organisations while here government colleague also queried the number.
Micheal Martin also sought to downplay the claim at the time, saying the figure was not “statistical”.
Commenting at the, he said: “On the 80 per cent and the evidence: Over a while, I think the Department of Justice officials would say – and it’s not statistical, it’s not a database or evidence base – but it is very clear from the presentations of migrants that there’s a change in the nature of where migrants have come from, and that’s the sense and the perspective that Justice have on this.
“Increasingly over the last year or two, there’s been a shift. If you remember, all the earlier commentary was on people coming in on planes without documentation and so on.
“That has lessened somewhat and there’s been a switch in terms of the pattern of migration, that’s the sense from our Justice officials.”
A briefing document to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan advised that the number of international protection applicants hit an all-time high last year[/caption]
