Gardaí turn 570 people back from Border

THERE has been a 21% increase in the number of people arriving from the North who have been turned back by the garda immigration border control unit in Dundalk in the last year.

Up to the end of July this year, 570 people, mainly men, were refused leave to land compared with 470 by the end of July 2005. Of those, just 10 people sought asylum. They were from dozens of countries around the world.

The unit, which was set up by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy two years ago, inspects the seven trains and 34 four buses that stop daily in Dundalk on their journey from Belfast to Dublin. They also stop cars and taxis.