Asylum applications set to fall following tough new measures

THE number of asylum applications is set to fall to its lowest level since the late 1990s following the introduction of tough new measures by the Government.

Figures from the Department of Justice show 2,216 applications were received to the end of June.

Asylum was granted in 549 cases, although the vast majority of those applications would have been lodged in previous years.

Last year, 4,766 asylum applications were received, with 1,138 cases successful.

The number of applications has reduced drastically since 2002, when the number reached an all-time high of 11,634.

The Department estimates that approximately 5,500 people are currently evading deportation, dating back to the late 1990s. However, organisations such as the Irish Refugee Council dispute those figures.

Peter O’Mahony of the IRF said that Operation Hyphen in July 2002 proved that the vast majority of failed asylum seekers leave the country.

“It is accepted that around 50% of people who apply for asylum drop out,” he said. “Our analysis is that the majority of people who dropped out dropped out of the country.”

The latest statistics also show that tough measures introduced by the Government to try and streamline the asylum process is placing people outside of the asylum system if their application is not actively pursued.

In the first six months of this year 364 cases were withdrawn on a variety of grounds relating to non-cooperation with asylum authorities, including failure to attend an interview at the ORAC.

A total of 2,442 people have been deported from Ireland between 1999 and the end of June 2005. Also in the first six months of this year, 79 Transfer Orders were effected, where a person is deemed to be the responsibility of another EU country and is subsequently moved there.

The figures also show a considerable drop in the number of people participating in Voluntary Return schemes. The programme is available for illegal migrants and failed asylum seekers who wish to return to their country of origin but do not have the means to do so. In the first six months of this year just 176 people returned home under the scheme, compared with a total of 611 in 2004.

The total amount spent on deportation in the first six months of this year is €634,528.79. The figure for 2005 is likely to be down on last year, when a total of €1.76 million was spent on deporting people from the State.