Special quick procedures used to weed out suspected "bogus" asylum-seekers should be discontinued, according to the Irish Refugee Council.
The recommendation comes in a report by the council on the fairness of the accelerated procedures used in dealing with certain asylum applications, where the person processing the claim decides it is "manifestly unfounded".
This is a part of a twin-track approach to asylum applications, where those suspected of being "bogus" asylum-seekers are weeded out by the "manifestly unfounded" provision at an early stage, sometimes without an interview.
The application is then turned down, and the applicant has only 10 days in which to appeal. This appeal does not include the right to an oral hearing.
Applicants who are not deemed "manifestly unfounded" go on to receive a full interview, and have more extensive rights of appeal.
The report was prepared for the Refugee Council by Ms S∅obhβn Mullally, a lecturer in law in UCC, with the help of Ms Sheila McGovern, a solicitor.
They examined 65 case-files where the application for asylum was refused as "manifestly unfounded".
The dismissal of applications on this basis rose from 1.7 per cent in 1999 to 18.8 per cent in 2000, a 10-fold increase.
According to the report, "the use of accelerated procedures for 'manifestly unfounded' claims in Ireland has extended far beyond the limited exceptions permitted by international law."
The report recommends replacing the use of the "manifestly unfounded" ground for refusing refugee status with a single-track, well-resourced refugee determination procedure that considers each claim on its merits within a reasonable timeframe.
It also urges a procedural framework that scrupulously observes the requirements of natural and constitutional justice, and international law. If the Government does not accept this recommendation, the report says a number of safeguards should be built into the existing system.
These include limiting the grounds on which an asylum application can be found to be "manifestly unfounded" to those defined by the UNHCR as "clearly fraudulent or not related to the criteria for granting refugee status".