Fingerprints reveal asylum claims made elsewhere

ALMOST 180 newly arrived asylum-seekers whose fingerprints were checked against an EU-wide database were found to have already made a refugee claim elsewhere in Europe, it has emerged.

The Department of Justice, in collaboration with other EU member States, began operating the Eurodac fingerprint database last January to try to clamp down on fraudulent asylum claims.

Under the Dublin Convention asylum seekers entering Europe must seek asylum in the first European country they enter and cannot subsequently travel onwards to another member State to apply for refugee status there.

However, since the establishment of Eurodac, 178 sets of asylum seeker fingerprints sent for comparison to the central electronic register in Luxembourg, matched prints held in other European countries.

All EU member-States, apart from Denmark, as well as Iceland and Norway, forward asylum applicants’ fingerprints for comparison to the register.

If Eurodac reveals that fingerprints have already been recorded, the asylum-seekers could be sent back to the country where their fingerprints were originally recorded. However a spokesman for the Department of Justice was unable to say how many of those caught by the system had been returned to their original application country as many may have established other reasons for being here or are still involved in legal proceedings here.

The spokesman said the cost to the Irish taxpayer had been minimal involving just 67,000 for the relevant computer terminals and software.

The Eurodac system has registered the fingerprints of all asylum applicants aged 14 and over who have made claims in Ireland since January 15, 2003 when the database went on-line.

However fingerprints taken from asylum-seekers prior to last year are not entered, so the print-matching facility can only compare asylum claims lodged in EU countries within the past 12 months.

Recorded hits in the last year include fingerprints held by asylum authorities in Britain, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Norway and France.

The Irish Refugee Council, while condemning the fact that there is any abuse of the asylum system, said that the numbers found to be asylum shopping was hardly alarming and didn’t bear out the fears often expressed that there is massive abuse of the asylum system.