Number of people seeking asylum falls to mid-’90s level

THE number of people claiming asylum in this country fell to levels not observed since the mid-’90s, the Justice Minister has said.

Announcing provisional asylum figures for 2010, Dermot Ahern said 1,939 asylum applications were received in 2010, representing a 27.9% decrease on the corresponding figure of 2,689 in 2009.

At a peak, in 2002, there were 11,634.

The majority of applications in 2010 were from Nigeria followed by China and Pakistan.

Figures from the Department of Justice show it was the second successive year asylum applications dropped dramatically with the numbers at just one-sixth of the 2002 figure.

Mr Ahern attributed the decline to a clampdown on bogus applications.

“I welcome the progress that continues to be made in the processing of asylum applications, particularly in light of the considerable challenge involved in this regard down the years,” he said.

“The reduction in asylum applications in Ireland is a reflection of the ongoing work within the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service including the asylum agencies to combat abuse while at the same time ensuring fairness and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of procedures in this area.”

There were 1,266 male and 673 female asylum applications in 2010 compared to 1,759 and 931, respectively, in 2009.

The top five countries those seeking asylum came from last year were Nigeria (20.0%), followed by China (11.8%), Pakistan (10.3%), Democratic Republic of Congo (3.6%) and Afghanistan (3.6%).

Nigeria has topped the list for the past 10 years.

There were 247 deportation orders for unsuccessful asylum seekers to non-EU countries made in 2010, up 4% on 2009.

There were also almost 1,900 applications by non-EU nationals for residence based on marriage to an EU citizen in Ireland, with nearly a fifth from Pakistani nationals.

The numbers involved now almost equal the number of asylum applications.

The department raised fears about the possibility of sham marriages as almost two-thirds of the applications from Pakistanis involved an EU partner from a Baltic state.