Gardaí launch clampdown on ‘asylum-shopping’

Gardaí have launched a major clampdown on the practice called "asylum-shopping", with 209 people already having been deported this year.

Nearly one in four of all foreign nationals who have claimed asylum in Ireland have also lodged asylum claims in other European countries.

Latest garda figures show that of the 1,639 newly-registered asylum seekers who came to Ireland this year, 393 had applied for asylum in other countries.

If this trend continues, asylum-shopping will have doubled since last year.

Under an international convention known as Dublin II, asylum seekers can be deported back to the country they last left for Ireland.

Of the 209 deported last year, a total of 144 were sent back to Britain.

The Minister for Justice Michael Mc Dowell is vowing to crackdown on unfounded and untruthful asylum applicants. It's expected that deportations will intensify over the coming months.