Spike in number asylum seekers applying for refugee status in Ireland

A sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers from Pakistan and Bangladesh led to more than a doubling of applications for refugee status in Ireland last year.

The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner said applicants from those two countries, most of whom had previously been resident in the UK, accounted for half of all new cases during 2015 as the number of applications rose to their highest level since 2008.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald expressed concern last year about the trend of young men on student visas in the UK travelling to Ireland to prolong their stay within the EU.