A significant decline in the number of claims for asylum in the State last month has been attributed to the authorities' refusal to allow people in transit to make their requests at Rosslare port in Co Wexford.
The Irish Refugee Council and the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace (ICJP) claim the bulk of the decrease could be attributed to the practice of screening those awaiting ferries from Cherbourg in France and not allowing them to disembark to make asylum claims in Rosslare if they get through.
Last month, 762 people claimed asylum in the State, according to the figures released yesterday by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. This was a drop of about 300 on each of the previous two months and represents the lowest monthly total in six months. In December 1999, about 1,200 asylum applications were lodged.
A spokesman for the Department said it was too early to read any significance into the December figures. He did point out, however, that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, had announced before Christmas his intention to introduce laws fining carriers found transporting passengers to the State without adequate immigration documentation.
Airlines and ferries have been talking to gardai in preparation for the implementation of this legislation. Stricter controls across Europe generally would also affect numbers here, the spokesman added.
The December figures bring the number of asylum claims to the State last year to 10,938, an increase of more than 3,000 on the 1999 total and more than twice the total in 1998.
The ICJP has established that since November 20th no asylum-seekers were let ashore from 10 out of 12 sailings to Rosslare from Cherbourg. On the November 22nd sailing, 22 passengers were refused permission to land, while 11 were prevented from disembarking on November 29th.
The commission said this contrasted with the October figures when 185 asylum-seekers came through Rosslare.
Mr Jerome Connolly of the ICJP said last night: "the bulk of the drop in December could reasonably be attributed to the new policies or practices in Rosslare."
Mr Peter O'Mahony of the Irish Refugee Council said he was concerned about the December drop, which appeared to prove efforts had been made to make it more difficult for asylum-seekers to make a claim for refugee status in Ireland via Rosslare.
"Given the apparent difficulties for asylum-seekers in using the ferries to Rosslare, we would have expected a drop in December and the figures released are consistent with this," Mr O'Mahony said.
The Irish Bishops' Committee on Refugees, which is a member of the ICJP, last month called on the Government to explain the dramatic drop in the number of asylum-seekers coming through Rosslare.
The Department of Justice has stated that all practices and procedures in relation to asylum-seekers and refugees are carried out in accordance with legislation.