Unrestricted access to the State for immigrants was ruled out by the Minister for Justice at the Fianna Fail Ardfheis last night.
Mr O'Donoghue said those found not to be in need of the State's protection would be dealt with humanely, fairly and in accordance with the law.
"There is no equivocation about that. However, we cannot and we will not operate an open-door policy, as some of our opponents advocate. That would be a unforgivable abdication of duty, and would be utterly inimical to the interests of this country".
Delegates passed a motion calling for "an informed, fair and honest national debate" on illegal immigration and the implementation of an adequately funded anti-racism campaign.
Mr John Paul McCarthy, UCC, said: "This issue has brought wider concerns about the growing selfishness of Irish society into sharp focus."
He said the increasing number of asylum-seekers posed a particular challenge for a Fianna Fail-led government. Starry-eyed sentimentalism was irrelevant, and no modern welfare state could survive an open-border policy.
Mr O'Donoghue said the subject of asylum and immigration had attracted an enormous amount of attention in recent years. He accused the last government of attempting to reinvent itself on the issue. "In office, they completely and utterly ignored the problem that they had on their hands. They also ignored the fact that it was growing on a daily basis".
He said that when he took over in the Department of Justice, in June 1997, the scenes which greeted him were ones of complete chaos.
"Asylum-seekers in the previous weeks and months had been arriving in their hundreds, but the then government thought by ignoring them that they would go away." Mr O'Donoghue said the current Government had faced up fairly and squarely to its responsibility relating to this area. "I have said many times before and I want to repeat it here tonight: any person who seeks the sanctuary of this State, and who after due process is deemed to be a refugee, will get that sanctuary."