Asylum seekers: how the numbers add up

I'M afraid there was a major error in the information given by Caroline O'Doherty in her piece on asylum seekers (Irish Examiner, August 30).

She says: "This year... the number of applicants up to the end of last month (July) was just 647."

In fact, 647 was the number of applications in the month of July alone. The number this year to the end of July was 5,397. She also refers, mysteriously, to "an accelerated deportation rate."

Again, in fact, deportations are down. By the end of July last year, 350 people had been deported; this year, for the same period, it was 312. She may be thinking of refusals of leave to land, of which there were many this year, but that is a different matter.

Áine Ní Chonaill,

Immigration Control Platform,

PO Box 6469,

Dublin 2.