Seventy people detected in Belfast's two main airports during recent operations aimed at curbing illegal immigration between Ireland and the UK were subsequently handed over to gardaí in the Republic of Ireland.
The immigrants, who had been travelling illegally between the two jurisdictions, had either asylum claims in the State or the right to reside here, according to the UK Home Office. Asylum-seekers are generally not allowed to travel from the Republic to the UK jurisdiction.
Gardaí, PSNI officers and the British immigration authorities have collaborated in two week-long operations in the past two months at Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport. The operations were aimed at detecting illegal immigration into and out of the island of Ireland.
A spokesman for the UK Home Office said yesterday that a total of 177 "immigration offenders" were identified, 85 per cent of whom were Nigerians. Seventy of these were removed to the Republic of Ireland, with the agreement of the Government. A small number claimed asylum in the UK, while the rest were in the process of being removed, he said.
The procedure for returning the immigrants to the Republic was to transport them by road to Dromad Garda Station, just inside the border in Co Louth, where arrangements were made for their onward journeys. The spokesman said he could not comment on a recent incident when a group was not met by gardaí in Dromad.
A spokesman for the Garda National Immigration Bureau confirmed that due to a "breakdown in communication" one group of immigrants was not met by gardaí at the appointed meeting place.
They sought help in the nearby Carrickdale Hotel. Local gardaí were contacted and went to meet the group, who were registered as asylum applicants in the Republic. They were subsequently transported home.
The Department of Justice said it had been established beyond doubt that large numbers of people who are "subject to immigration control" are using the Northern Ireland route to travel from Great Britain to Ireland and vice versa. Many of these people were "repeat offenders". Under refugee law it is an offence for asylum applicants to leave the State without permission of the Minister for Justice.
A Department spokesman said it was not the intention of this policy to enable asylum-seekers to use Ireland either as a base from which to travel illegally to other neighbouring jurisdictions or a secure haven to which to return in the event of difficulties arising in those jurisdictions.