THE NUMBER of people claiming asylum in the Republic fell by almost one-third in 2009 and is now back to levels last seen in the mid-1990s.
The Government said the drop in asylum applications – the seventh consecutive fall in as many years – was due to better management of the asylum process, a crackdown on abuses in the system, and the recession.
Last year, 2,689 asylum applications were received, down from 3,866 in 2008. Applications reached a peak of 11,634 in 2002. The same year, about 65 per cent of the new applicants were male and 35 per cent female, according to new figures published yesterday by the Government.
Nigerians made 569 asylum applications, which was 21 per cent of all applications in the Republic. About 10 per cent of applications were made by Pakistanis, 7 per cent by Chinese, 3.8 per cent by Congolese and 3.4 per cent by people from Zimbabwe.
Asylum seekers are people who move abroad to apply for protection and are awaiting a determination of their status.
“This reduction is a reflection of the ongoing work within the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service including the asylum agencies to combat abuse and to improve the fairness, effectiveness and efficiency of procedures in this area,” said Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern in a statement.
“I might add that information available to us also suggests that many asylum applicants are economic migrants. Therefore, it is possible that economic conditions in Ireland may have been a factor in the reduction in asylum application numbers in 2009,” he added.
The Irish Refugee Council warned that the conditions that create refugees had not gone away despite the lower numbers coming to Ireland, and it was important that every asylum seeker had their case heard in a fair and transparent way.
“The reasons that applications for asylum to Ireland appear to have dropped are numerous, including increased security making it harder for asylum seekers to access EU territory – leading to what has been described as ‘Fortress Europe’,” said Roisin Boyd, spokeswoman for the council.
The provisional figures for 2009 show the Government deported 236 people to non-EU countries following the failure of their claim for asylum in the Republic. This represents an 83 per cent increase on the 107 individuals that were deported in 2008.
Some 202 people whose asylum claim was rejected agreed last year to be assisted to return home voluntarily, up from 146 in 2008. A further 243 asylum seekers were transferred to other EU member states under the Dublin II regulation. This rule says people can only claim asylum in the first EU state where they arrive in Europe.
Mr Ahern said when voluntary returns, deportation and Dublin II transfers were taken into account, a total of 681 people were assisted in returning home or were removed from the State in 2009.
This is a substantial rise of 24.7 per cent on the corresponding figure for 2008, he added.