The government has extended a ban on visa-free travel for people with refugee status amid evidence that individuals already in possession of refugee status from other European countries are applying for asylum in Ireland.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, said, “This decision has been taken by Government in the context of unprecedented pressures on our international protection system and the temporary protection being offered to those fleeing the war in Ukraine.”
Addressing the issue of erroneous asylum claims he said, “It is not a decision taken lightly but it is the right one for Ireland at this time to ensure the integrity of our immigration system, to avoid any undue pressure on systems that are already under strain and to make sure that those who need protection in Ireland can get it and get it quickly.”
While the government says that visa-free travel arrangements for people fleeing war in Ukraine remains unaffected, the original suspension of the Council of Europe Agreement on the Abolition of Visas for Refugees was originally introduced in July last year.
The government says that before the visa suspension was introduced “there was a 191% increase in applications by the end of June 2022 compared to the same period in 2019,”
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the extension of the suspension is “a carefully considered decision that we believe is necessary to protect the integrity of Ireland’s immigration system in the context of continued pressures on our international protection and accommodation systems.”
“Ireland’s commitment to protecting and assisting those in need remains steadfast. We are committed to upholding our international and EU obligations towards international protection applicants and refugees.” she said.
People over the age of 14 applying for refugee status in Ireland are checked by the International Protection Office against the Eurodac database which alerts Ireland if the person has been granted International Protection in another EU Member State.
The government says that new measures to examine asylum applications for those arriving from safe countries have seen a significant speeding up of the process and that there has been a 70% decrease in the numbers of asylum seekers arriving from safe countries.
“The changes have ensured that a first instance decision is made within three months in such cases, a significant reduction from a norm of 17 to 24 months last year. The numbers arriving from these countries has significantly decreased,” it said.
Gript’s Dr. Matt Treacy took issue with the government’s 70% decrease writing, “First of all is that the overall numbers of people applying for asylum through the IPO in May showed an increase from April and the first increase since January of this year. So there is an element of “look over there” about the whole business.”
“The second point to be made is that the seven designated safe countries of Albania, Bosnia/Herzogovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and South Africa are a pretty arbitrary selection listed in Statutory Instrument 121/2018 for the purposes of applying the criteria listed in the International Protection Act (2015.). Part 12 of the Act sets out a definition of what constitutes a safe country.”
“It is clear that this definition applies well beyond the seven named countries. If South Africa and Georgia qualify as safe countries according to the listed criteria then so too do most of the countries from which people applying for asylum here originate. The vast bulk of them, as can be seen in the table listing current numbers in IPAS accommodation, are citizens of countries which are functioning democracies and in which there is no war or conflict to justify the numbers claiming asylum in Ireland, or anywhere else for that matter.”
The government emphasises that the “continued imposition of a visa requirement will not prevent travel to Ireland by 1951 Convention document holders” and that “genuine travel plans” will be facilitated through standard visa arrangements saying that since the introduction of the suspension “there have been 803 Convention Travel Document visa applications, of which 697 were granted and 105 refused,”