Proposals on ways to reduce the amount of money spent on asylum-seekers will be brought to a new cabinet sub-committee by the Minister for Justice this month.
Among measures being considered are proposals to tighten up access to social welfare payments for asylum-seekers, according to official sources.
The Department of Justice is increasingly concerned that the numbers of asylum claimants in the State are growing and will exceed 10,000 this year for the third consecutive year.
This is despite intense efforts in recent years to streamline the asylum processing system and step-up deportations of failed asylum-seekers.
The annual cost of the asylum process is up to €300 million, the Minister for Justice said last week. Mr McDowell said they had to "get on top of the issue and sort it out once and for all". The function of the cabinet sub-committee is to oversee policy development and direction in the immigration and asylum area generally. It is made up of departments involved in service provision as well as wider issues in the area.
It is understood that proposals being considered by Department of Justice officials are aimed at ensuring that newly arrived asylum-seekers in receipt of state benefits remain in officially-provided accommodation under the "direct provision" system.
Under direct provision, asylum-applicants are obliged to live in full-board accommodation provided by the authorities in locations throughout the State.
They receive about €19.05 per week per adult in addition to some other welfare payments, as well as having their meals and laundry services provided.
The direct provision system was introduced in 2000 in an effort to combat the perceived "pull factor" of a generous social welfare payments system for asylum-seekers. It was implemented at the same time as a similar system was put in place in the UK.
However, there has not been ongoing reduction in asylum claims in the intervening period, despite some monthly dips. The total number of claimants until the end of October this year was 9,560, compared to 8,461 for the same period last year.
The Minister for Justice pointed out recently that some 8 per cent of asylum applicants are granted refugee status. "More than nine of out 10 people who go through a very rigorous process are in fact economic migrants posing as asylum-seekers," he said.
Currently, about half of asylum applicants who are designated accommodation in direct provision centres do not take up the accommodation. Instead, they disappear out of the system: some work illegally while others travel to the UK, according to officials.
It is understood that a small number of those people may go on to claim social welfare, perhaps under different identities. Other asylum claimants who are permitted to leave direct provision and claim "normal" social welfare benefits are pregnant women and families, or people with medical needs. The Department of Social and Family Affairs expects it will pay €111 million to non-nationals this year. This amount includes money paid to asylum-seekers, refugees and other EU and non-EU immigrants.