Information supplied to a reader of Gript by way of a Freedom of Information request confirms that 80% of those claiming asylum had entered the state from across the border with the north.
In addition, it is evident that a very significant proportion – 78% – of those claiming asylum at Dublin airport continue to present with no documents or with false documents.
The figures released by the Department of Justice on Tuesday this week show that between January 1 and March 31 in 2024 there were a total of 1,123 claims made for asylum at Dublin airport.
Of that number 618 persons presented with no documentation – and a further 247 presented with false documents. The total of applicants for asylum who presented themselves with no documentation or with false documentation was 865 which represented 78.3% of the total number of applications for asylum made to the International Protection Office at Dublin airport.
A separate reply regarding the total number of applications made at the International Protection Office at Mount Street, Dublin shows that 5150 persons did so at that location. Of that number 60% were made by males.
According to the Department of Justice, the total of asylum applications made in the months of January, February and March was 6,273. The figures for the same period published by IPAS record that there were 4,867 arrivals into the state over that period.
There is an obvious discrepancy between the two figures but as those familiar with the statistics for asylum and related matters over the years as reported by Gript will know that such discrepancies are neither unusual nor, on the face of it, immediately attributable to any obvious reported factor.
Gript readers will also be aware that there has been a steadily increased percentage of asylum applications made in the state that are presented directly at the IPO office in Mount Street rather than at a point of entry into the state which would be the normal procedure for persons claiming protection. As can be seen from the table below, the number of applications for asylum made at ports and other points are minimal.
What we can therefore garner from the latest statistics as presented in the Freedom of Information reply this week is that of the 6,273 applications which they record that 77.5% were made by people who just turned up at the IPO office in Mount Street rather than making themselves known at the point at which they entered the state.
That confirms Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s claim on April 19 this year that 80% of those claiming asylum in the state were entering the state from Northern Ireland. Despite an immediate questioning of this by Tánaiste Micheál Martin, the Minister’s officials released a statement which noted that: “To date in 2024, there have been 6,739 applications for International Protection at the IPO. Of these 6,136 (91%) were made at the IPO for the first time and not at a port of entry.”
The FOI response to our reader proves that this was the case and underlines the fact that the vast bulk of those claiming asylum in the Irish state are entering the state from a safe country. One in which they ought to have been obliged to make any application for International Protection or, in the case of Ukrainians allegedly fleeing the war, as applicants for Temporary Protection.
We will await with interest to see from statistics for the period since March if that trend has continued and whether the procedures for asylum application and protection continue to be flaunted