TD wants inquiry into level of asylum-seekers arriving in State

Mr Batt O'Keeffe TD (Fianna Fail) yesterday called for an investigation into the number of asylum-seekers coming to Ireland

Mr Batt O'Keeffe TD (Fianna Fail) yesterday called for an investigation into the number of asylum-seekers coming to Ireland. He suggested some officials in other EU states were colluding with racketeers who were smuggling asylum seekers.

Mr O'Keeffe said asylum-seekers were arriving at a rate of 250 people a week into Ireland - most of them from either France or the UK which should, under EU legislation, process their applications for asylum. "There is a legally-enshrined principle that the first EU country to receive asylum seekers should process their application, but that obviously is being ignored elsewhere given almost all those coming to Ireland come from other EU countries.

"There obviously has to be racketeering involved and given the numbers coming into Rosslare, I think it's a fair assumption that there must be some level of collusion with the racketeers by some officials in France and the UK," he said.

Mr O'Keeffe said that he understood agreement was being finalised between the Department of the Environment and a number of property owners in Cork to accommodate 150 asylum-seekers currently in Dublin.