Asylum-seekers are being deported from the State without being given the chance to claim asylum, according to refugee support groups.
The Irish Refugee Council says it has growing evidence of asylum-seekers being refused entry into Dublin and Cork airports by immigration officials and then deported on the next available flight.
"We have recorded more of these cases in the last month than during the whole of last year," said Mr Peter O'Mahony, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council.
"For many asylum-seekers, the arrivals area in certain airports is the most dangerous place in the country."
The Department of Justice, however, has rejected claims of a change in the State's immigration policies and said only illegal immigrants may be refused entry.
Leave to land may be refused to an illegal immigrant under the Aliens Order Act (1946) on several grounds, such as absence of a work visa or insufficient funds.
However, a person seeking refugee status is automatically entitled to remain in the State until their claim is processed. An asylum-seeker may be detained under the Refugee Act (1996) on a number of grounds, such as possession of forged documents.
The dispute over the asylum process comes at a time when new figures show applications for asylum have fallen to their lowest level since July 1999.
The figures for this year show monthly applications decreasing from 979 in January to 947 in February, 892 in March and then dropping to 667 in April.
The department attributes most of this reduction to last January's Supreme Court ruling that non-nationals have no automatic right to residency on the basis of a child born here.
However, Mr O'Mahony said the Supreme Court ruling was being used by immigration officials as a smokescreen to refuse leave to land for asylum-seekers.
Any individual refused leave to land is either deported on the next available flight or detained if it is not possible to arrange their removal from the State shortly after their arrival.
The Irish Refugee Council says it has been contacted by individuals in airports and the prison system who have expressed concern at deportations.
A number of support groups affiliated to the council say they have intervened in a number of cases and prevented the deportation of asylum-seekers.
Mr O'Mahony yesterday called on the Government to allow a human-rights monitoring presence at Irish airports to help prevent "any further violation of asylum-seekers' rights".
He said the State had been offered EU funds for that purpose but the Government did not take up the offer.
Latest available figures show 3,301 people were refused leave to land in 2001 and deported.
