Sir, – I note with concern the remarks of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to the Oireachtas Justice Committee regarding the number of international protection applicants arriving to Ireland via the Border with Northern Ireland, reported by Jack Horgan-Jones (“More than 80% of asylum applicants now coming from UK via Northern Ireland, says McEntee”, News, April 23rd).
The Minister appears to be basing her claim on the number of people who apply directly at the International Protection office without presenting at a port of entry.
From our work at Nasc we know there are many reasons why people do not claim initially at a port; they may fear being returned or detained or they may have already been living in Ireland at the time they decide to make an application for international protection.
The latter is true of many of the Ukrainian nationals in the international protection system.
It is simply inaccurate to correlate these two numbers.
Given the current environment and the dangerous rhetoric about International Protection applicants, it is incumbent on the Minister not to further inflame public opinion. – Yours, etc,
FIONA HURLEY,
Chief Executive Officer,
Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre,
Cork.