Ireland would be out of step with most EU states if it detained asylum-seekers, according to the co-author of a recent Government-commissioned report on refugee law.
Ms Suzanne Egan said the detention of asylum-seekers while their applications for refugee status were being determined would flout international standards.
Ms Egan, a UCD academic, co-wrote the recently published report, Refugee Law Comparative Study, which was commissioned by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
She warned that if Ireland "went down the road of detaining people simply on the basis that they had entered the State illegally, that would be in contravention of international standards. We also have European standards to be conscious of, which they don't have in Australia."