Asylum application numbers down in 2004

The number of applications for asylum received by the State has fallen dramatically in 2004, it emerged today.

The number of applications received in the first four months of the year was 1,633. If the trend continues for the rest of the year a total of 4,899 will be recorded - which would be the lowest level of applications since 1997.

The figures, obtained by Mr Joe Costello of the Labour Party in response to a Dáil question, were published as Fianna Fáil prepared to begin its campaign for a Yes vote in the citizenship referendum.

The number of applications received in April was 377, compared to an average of 418 per month in the first three months of this year and a monthly average of 658 in 2003.

"These figures seriously undermine alarmist claims made about unsustainable number of asylum applicants flooding the country," Mr Costello said. "They also raise serious questions about one of the key reasons offered by the Minister for Justice to justify the Government proposed amendment on citizenship.

"In the original briefing material produced by Minister McDowell he claimed that almost 60 per cent of female asylum seekers aged over 16 were pregnant when arriving in this country," Mr Costello said.

"It is clear given the dramatic fall in the number of asylum applications, that there must have been a very corresponding reduction in the number of such applicants who were pregnant."