`Road to Republic starts in Brixton'

Time was when Nigeria was filled with thousands of Irish missionaries. But now the trend is reversed, with up to 10,000 Nigerians arriving in the Republic in the past five years.

Last year, they formed the largest group of asylum-seekers in the Republic. That figure of 3,404 applicants represented half of all the asylum applications made by Nigerians in the whole of Europe.

Most come from the largely Christian south, from the Yoruba, Ibo and Edo tribes. Few hail from the Muslim-dominated regions further north.

Upwards of 70 per cent of the Nigerians who come to the Republic arrive after spending some time in another EU state, usually Britain, according to informed estimates. Most have no papers on them when they apply for asylum.

Department of Justice officials claim most of the applications they receive from Nigerians are bogus. They point to the children of asylum-seekers having English accents or wearing Premiership shirts as evidence that the asylum-seeker has not come straight from Nigeria as claimed.

"For most, the road to Ireland starts in Brixton," says one senior official.

Gardai claim that Ireland is "the place to come" because of the ready availability of jobs and the fact that asylum-seekers are not detained, as in some other countries. "Plus the fact that if you have an Irish-born child, you are home and dry," says one garda working in immigration.

Officials have a specific concern about the arrival of some Nigerian children.

"There's no requirement in Ireland for a photograph for young children travelling on their parents' passport, so you have people coming in with children that are not their own."

The national immigration service was only established last year, and gardai admit they are at "an early stage" in building up intelligence in the area.

Three failed asylum-seekers were deported to Nigeria last year, and three more so far this year. The department, which is anxious to speed up the rate of deportations, is currently in talks on a readmission agreement with the Nigerian government.