€6m to be ‘wasted’ on asylum seeker units as applications drop

MORE than €6 million a year is to be “wasted” on providing secure units for asylum seekers that will not be used, Fine Gael claimed last night.

The party’s immigration and integration spokesman, Denis Naughten, said the expenditure made no sense.

“The Government is planning to make 100 new prison places available specifically for persons who are to be deported from the country, at a time when current immigration and asylum figures show that the number of asylum applications is falling,” he said.