The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, will tomorrow sign an agreement with the Romanian government which could fasttrack the deportation of up to 5,000 Romanian asylum-seekers within the next year.
The agreement will allow the Minister to repatriate Romanian citizens who have had their applications for asylum refused.
Since 1992, approximately 5,500 Romanians have applied for asylum.
Of the 2,670 cases processed so far, only 15 have had their requests granted. But there have been legal difficulties in repatriating them.
A Department of Justice spokesman stressed last night that the Government is committed to applying fair procedures in accordance with the law to all immigrants, both legal and illegal, but illegal immigrants would have to leave the State.
According to a Department source, readmission agreements are a common feature of relations between states and have an important contribution to make to immigration and asylum policy.
