A ROMANIAN refugee, whose application for asylum was rejected, yesterday assaulted gardai and strongly resisted being deported.
He created such a scene at Dublin Airport - shouting, fighting and removing his clothes that an Aer Lingus pilot and crew refused to take him on board. He had been due to be flown to Zurich and then on to Budapest. He was then taken by four gardai by ferry to Holyhead in Wales.
With the cooperation of British and French customs and police he was then taken to Romania.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said he was deported as a result of a failed application for refugee status. The application had gone through the necessary channels before the decision to deport him was reached. The man, in his mid40s, had been living in Tallaght for two years.
She said Ireland would always adhere to its international obligations in relation to genuine refugees. "But we do have applications from those who are not genuine asylum seekers, who are bogus applicants. Genuine applicants will be facilitated, but bogus applicants will be deported. Those who are not genuine will be returned to their native country."
She stressed that it was not a case of targeting any particular country or a particular number, but there could be about 500 people seeking political asylum category without a genuine case.
The number seeking asylum had increased "dramatically". In the first five months of this year there were more applicants seeking refugee category than in the whole of last year. In 1992 there were 39 applicants; in 1993, 91; in 1994, 362; in 1995, 424; and in 1996, 1179. The figure on May 14th last was 1,266.