Over 5,000 people who reached Ireland last year seeking asylum had either false travel documents or none at all, according to the recent figures provided by Newstalk.
According to the figures provided by the Department of Justice, for a period between January and November last year, 5,074 people applying for asylum in Ireland presented either false or no documentation at all, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
This means that nearly 40 per cent of those reaching Ireland in order to apply for international protection last year didn’t hold valid travel documents.
In addition, the figures provided by the recent report of Newstalk, the majority of the applications or 70 per cent of them (over 3,500) were men, and 30 per cent of them (about 1,500) were women.
It has been reported that the statistics also included people only people over the age of 16 after the department didn’t record minors.
Regarding the issue, the Former Justice Minister, Michael McDowell told local media in Ireland that all those reaching the country without valid documents would be deported from the country.
“If you come to Dublin Airport and you say you have no travel documents – what is your motive in doing that? It is to conceal your identity and it is to prevent the Irish State from coming to a quick decision as to whether you’re what you claim to be and whether or not you’re somebody who is entitled to international protection,” he pointed out in this regard.
Senator McDowell considered the country’s immigration system ineffectual, stressing that people reaching Ireland from other countries without passports encounter a different approach.
In October last year, local media reports in Ireland said that about 40 per cent of those seeking asylum in Ireland reached the Dublin Airport without valid travel documents.
The same source revealed that from January until July last year, about 2,915 people flew into the airport in Dublin and didn’t show their travel documents to the border management officials, meaning they were prevented from disembarking.
It was also reported that of the total number, more than 2,232 or 77 per cent of them subsequently sought asylum and were permitted to remain pending the assessment of their claim. Still, it was confirmed that the airport of Dublin registered the highest number of undocumented arrivals over the years.
Authorities in Ireland are continuously attempting to find new ways in order to prevent people from reaching the country in an unlawful way.
