Eighty nine minors seeking asylum referred to Tusla so far this year

When arriving to the State, those seeking asylum are assessed by the IPO — if applicants are deemed to be minors, they are then referred to the child and family agency. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The number of minors referred to Tusla by the International Protection Office (IPO) in the first five months of 2024 was almost half of the total tally for last year, new figures have shown.

As of last week, 89 asylum-seeking minors were referred to Tusla by IPO officials.

The majority have travelled from either Afghanistan (29), Somalia (25), or Nigeria (13). In total, minors have applied for asylum from 15 different nations in 2024.

These included Palestine, Syria, Vietnam, and Congo DR among others.

The figures were provided to Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

When arriving to the State, those seeking asylum are assessed by the IPO — if applicants are deemed to be minors, they are then referred to the child and family agency.

Tusla then undertakes an assessment for eligibility for services and for those deemed to be unaccompanied minors, they support the young persons in making an application. 

There have been cases where Tusla has deemed a young person not eligible for services and the young person has then completed an application for international protection as an adult.

For the entirety of 2023, 185 referrals had been made to Tusla by the IPO, from a total of 19 countries.

Much like this year, the three countries where the most minors had travelled from were Afghanistan (72), Somalia (45) and Nigeria (14).

People are allowed to apply for international protection in Ireland to escape persecution in their own country for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

Alternatively, they can apply for protection here if they cannot return to their country because they have a well-founded fear for their safety.

Since December 4, there have been 3,197 applications made by what the Government says are "eligible male international protection applicants". Of those, 1,780 are awaiting offers of accommodation.

Since January of last year, applicants for international protection who do not have children are not prioritised for accommodation.

IPAs who are not provided with accommodation will receive a temporary increase of €75 to their daily expense allowance.

In recent weeks, tents which had been pitched by those awaiting decisions from the IPO on Mount Street and along the Grand Canal in Dublin had been moved on and replaced with a number of steel barriers.

The decision had been labelled as horrific by Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon, who noted "the barriers on the canal are horrific, both in aesthetic and in the message that it sends out to the city”.

His comments came after Taoiseach Simon Harris said Ireland would "absolutely provide shelter" for asylum seekers — but noted it may not always been in the form of housing.