Ireland is not living up to its obligation to allow people to enter the country to apply for asylum, the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace has warned in the wake of the weekend tragedy in Wexford.
Sister Joan Roddy from the commission's refugee project said strict controls introduced in the French port of Cherbourg last year had led to a steep decline in the number of asylum-seekers lodging claims for refugee status in the Co Wexford port of Rosslare.
Only 24 people claimed asylum in Rosslare port in the first five months of this year, compared to 514 for the same period last year. The decline follows the introduction of document controls which prevent people with false or inadequate documents from boarding Irish-bound ferries in Cherbourg.
Once they have arrived in the State, asylum-seekers do not need to have valid travel documents in order to have their cases for refugee status processed under the 1951 Geneva Convention.
"We are not living up to our obligations to give people the possibility of entering the country and applying for asylum," said Sister Roddy. "Because of the restrictions that we have placed outside our frontiers people can't get on the ferries and the evidence is that people are not being let off the ferries. Therefore people have to have recourse to extraordinary means and it's the increasingly restrictive measures that are pushing people into the hands of smugglers."
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said the weekend's tragedy underscored the need to find better ways of managing the movement of people so they did not have to resort to the services of unscrupulous people. Its representative in Ireland, Ms Pia Prⁿtz Phiri, said trafficking and smuggling of people had to be dealt with in a broader context.
"We need to make it possible for people to move legally and safely through a clear migration policy and adhering to international standards with regard to refugee protection, ensuring the asylum-seekers are admitted and their cases heard promptly and fairly, not by introducing more restrictions," she said.
The eight deaths will be raised in the Dβil today by the Labour Party, which will demand action against illegal traffickers.
The party's deputy leader, Mr Brendan Howlin, said the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice were right to say no effort should be spared in tracking down those responsible for this heinous crime. "But it is time to rethink our attitude to the issue of asylum and immigration. Once again the Minister for Justice has today sought to suggest that those who oppose his policies advocate an 'open door' policy on refugees and immigration," he said.
The Green Party's spokesperson on Justice, Ms Patricia McKenna MEP, said the Minister's legislation had made matters worse for asylum seekers who found it more difficult to exercise their right to seek asylum in Ireland.