Department denies prison plan to hold asylum seekers

THE Department of Justice said the new prison complex in north Dublin would “absolutely” not be used to detain asylum seekers applying for refugee status.

A spokesman said a unit in Thornton Hall would be used only to house failed asylum seekers facing deportation. He said this was already the case, but that currently they were held alongside prisoners in the same jail.

The spokesman said the department was examining whether or not to bring in legislation to allow the State detain asylum applicants, but stressed there were “no plans” at the moment. It is understood that, if the department goes down this line, asylum seekers will not be housed in Thornton Hall, but in a separate facility.

However, refugee bodies were concerned yesterday at reports of the department’s plans and expressed unease that asylum applicants, as well as those who have been turned down and face deportation, will be increasingly detained.

“Thornton Hall is not going to be used for the detention of those whose claims are being processed. There are no plans to do that, absolutely not,” said a Department of Justice spokesman. He said there were no provisions for such under the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, currently going through the Dáil.

He said the department was separately examining the issue of detaining asylum applicants. “It is being considered, and we have said this before, but there are no plans.”

There is one section in the bill that did allow for “very short-term” detention of some asylum applicants on entry into the country. This would be for “maybe a few hours” in order to provide the person with a protection permit application, the entry point into the asylum process.

The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) and the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) issued a statement yesterday saying they were “disturbed” at media reports of the plans.

“This appears to be yet another sign of the Government’s plans to increase detention of asylum seekers who have not committed a crime,” said Robin Hanan of the IRC. “I hope the minister can assure us that is just an organisational issue to separate asylum seekers from other prisoners and is not a way of increasing numbers of asylum seekers in detention.”

Liam Herrick of the IPRT said: “There is a general concern that increased facilities could lead to an expanded use of detention for asylum seekers at a time when asylum seeker numbers have been consistently dropping.”

Mubarak Habib of the Africa Centre said it would be a “backward” step to detain more asylum seekers. “You have people who have left their own countries where they had already been detained by their own government and are fleeing prosecution. They believe that when they go to another country they will be free, not back again in prison.”