OFFICIAL FIGURES indicate that the bulk of those claiming asylum status in the Republic in the past 12 months came here from Britain and arrived across the Border with Northern Ireland.
According to figures supplied by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, in response to a parliamentary question from Labour Justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte, more than 90 per cent of asylum seekers were already in this State when they first applied for asylum.
The figures show that 3,844 people sought asylum in the Republic in the 12 months to the end of March. Of that number, 3,248 made their first application for asylum at the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner on Mount Street in Dublin, and not at their point of entry into the State.
Of this number, only 12 sought asylum at ports, and 304 made their application at airports. A further 244 sought asylum from prison after they were jailed for committing an offence in this State.
In the past 12 months, 3,406 asylum applications made in the first instance were refused, while 388 were granted.
In the same period, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which hears appeals from the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, received 2,571 appeals. Of these, 1,568 appeals were refused, 225 were granted, and the others are still pending.
A significant number of asylum seekers made judicial review applications to the courts challenging the decisions of both the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
A Department of Justice spokesman pointed out that 468 of the applications for asylum made here came from people who had already applied for refugee status in another EU country.
