EU ministers create €30m fund to repatriate illegal migrants

EU ministers meeting in Dublin Castle have agreed to set up a €30 million fund to repatriate failed asylum seekers.

The fund will be used to fly migrants out of EU countries and to finance reintegration measures once they are home.

EU member states are attempting to establish a common European approach to asylum seekers within the next eight to 12 weeks.

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, who is chairing a two-day meeting of EU justice ministers in Dublin, said this evening "progress on agreement had been made but more was needed".

He said the talks had identified a number of difficulties in forging a common standard for dealing with asylum applications but there was "room to see how a common position could be achieved".

But the UN High Commission for Refugees said today it was concerned by some of the proposals being considered which it says may restrict the basic right of an individuals to seek asylum.

In particular it said the so-called safe third country principles may exclude whole groups of people from having their cases for asylum considered.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Ruud Lubbers, also warned EU enlargement may "overwhelm" asylum systems in new members states.

Mr Lubbers said the harmonistation of legislation on asylum seekers will put undue pressure on the new border states where asylum systems are "fragile and under-resourced".

Earlier Mr McDowell warned: "A failure to deal with migration of asylum seekers and the like could give rise to a right-wing backlash and racist politics."

It is five years since EU leaders first agreed to establish a common policy on asylum and immigration, and Ireland's will be the seventh EU presidency to attempt to put it into action.

Mr McDowell said that 90 per cent of asylum applications in Ireland, which cost the Irish taxpayer ?340 million, were "unfounded".

EU ministers will also discuss measures to improve cross-border police cooperation in the fight against organised crime as the 15-member bloc gets set to take in 10 new states on May 1st, and general immigration policies.

A group of about 200 protesters chanting "no justice, no peace" held a demonstration outside Dublin Castle this evening where the EU justice ministers were meeting.

A number of the protesters staged a play to "showcase Irish justice" in which they re-enacted what they described as garda brutality at the 2002 Reclaim the Streets rally and the Shannon anti-war protests.

In the presence of a strong garda contingent, protesters held placards saying 'No Fortress Europe' and 'No Borders No Nations'.

The demonstration passed off peacefully and there was no reports of any arrests.