Taoiseach: People who 'cheat' the immigration system will be dealt with

Leo Varadkar said the Government was making sure applications for international protection were processed more quickly. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/ RollingNews.ie

People who "cheat" the immigration system will be dealt with, the Taoiseach has said.

Leo Varadkar has dismissed as "nonsense" claims Ireland is a "soft touch" when it comes to immigration, pointing to checks that are carried out on arrival, as well as deportations.

Ireland has welcomed about 100,000 Ukrainians and the number of people seeking international protection here has spiked in recent years, which has put significant pressure on the accommodation system.

Chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Sinéad Gibney recently called for a “robust, mature” system to deal with the reality of the numbers seeking international protection in Ireland.

Mr Varadkar acknowledged international protection was the area of greatest controversy, but said the Government was making sure applications were processed more quickly.

"We've a list of safe countries, and we're now getting decisions within three months when it comes to most of the applications from safe countries, so it's a quicker turnaround in terms of decisions, in terms of appeals," he said.

“Then where somebody is refused the right to stay here or breaches the terms of their visa, there are deportation orders. I think this year, 700 or 800 deportation orders have been signed, and that's quite a large number.”

He added: “Most of those people will leave voluntarily, but some have to be removed from the State as well. So they're the kind of things that we're doing.”

In recent months, a number of protests have been mounted outside properties that have been earmarked to take asylum-seekers with one hotel in Galway set ablaze before Christmas.

Strict entry rules

Addressing claims 'unvetted' people were seeking international protection in Ireland, Mr Varakdar said strict entry rules were enforced.

"One of the far right myths that has gained the most traction is the idea that international protection applicants are unvetted, it's always been the case that we register, photograph, and fingerprint applicants for international protection to the extent that some sort of find it a bit demeaning, we've always done this and done it for good reasons.

“And then using that we can then check with Europol against watch lists for example."

He admitted in the past politicians "maybe were afraid" to talk about this because "people might have accused us of being hardline or are engaging anti immigrant rhetoric I think".

"But I think in order to secure ongoing public support for migration, which we need, we're going to need to reassure people that there are rules and our system is rules-based, and those rules are enforced and they are to be respected.

“Just as there are people who abuse our tax system, tax dodgers, just as there are people who abuse our welfare system, welfare cheats, there will be people who abuse our migration system — they need to be dealt with, but they're not the majority of migrants, they are a pretty small minority of migrants and I think we just need to explain that a bit better.”

The Taoiseach added there were different forms of migration, including about 30,000 Irish citizens who return home every year, as well as those who come here from outside the EU on student visas.

“The idea that Ireland is somehow a soft touch, that's nonsense. When it comes to international protection the number of arrivals is about the EU average for the last two years and was well below the EU average for the preceding years.”