Asylum process cost State ?353m in 2003

The cost to the State of the refugee and asylum-seeker process reached €353 million last year, new figures from the Department of Justice show.

The figures released by the Department show 9,000 people were refused entry into the State at ports and airports in 2002 and 2003 and were returned to their countries of origin.

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said costs associated with refugees and asylum-seekers had already fallen this year because of the more stringent and streamlined policy now being adopted.

"Wide-ranging amendments" to the Refugee Act 1996, brought about by the Immigration Act 2003, had resulted in Ireland recording the "second-highest reduction in asylum applications in any EU state in 2003". However, spending in the area would likely remain high in the short term.

"While any continued reduction in asylum applications can be expected to have an impact on the level of resources allocated to services for asylum seekers in the future, expenditure in this area will have to be maintained at an appropriate level so as to ensure the efficient and effective processing of applications in particular". Mr McDowell was responding to a series of parliamentary questions tabled by Mr Seán Haughey.

The Minister said of the €353 million spent in 2003, €120 million had come from his Department. This had been spent on, among other things, costs directly associated with the processing of asylum applications, the provision of accommodation and the operation of the deportation process.

Some €1.6 million was spent on deportations last year, excluding overtime and subsistence allowances paid to gardaí who escorted deportees to their destination. The Department of Justice figures show that between the beginning of 1999 and the end of August 2004, almost €6.5 million - excluding Garda payments - has been spent deporting 2,059 individuals.

Mr McDowell said while the cost of deportations were always kept to a minimum, not to deport people against whom deportation orders were issued would call into question the integrity of the State's asylum process.

In 1999, six people were deported. This increased to 590 last year. This year, 390 people were deported up to the end of August. Of the 9,982 deportation orders issued since 1999, just 2,000 had resulted in a deportation.

The vast majority of 8,000 non-nationals who have gone missing simply failed to present themselves for deportation to the Garda National Immigration Bureau. It is not known how many of these are still in the State.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs had been notified as to their identity and their social welfare payments have been discontinued.

State agencies responsible for processing asylum claims and hearing appeals have experienced a significant decrease in waiting lists. As of August 31st, the number of outstanding applications for asylum in the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner stood at 2,647 - a 48 per cent decrease compared with 12 months earlier.

Similarly, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal - which hears appeals in respect of failed asylum claims - had 1,637 cases outstanding. This represented a reduction of 43 per cent compared with the level of outstanding claims 12 months earlier.

Of the applications pending processed by the tribunal or the applications commissioner, 1,589 were six months or more old, compared with 6,500 in September 2003.