Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s Border Management Unit (BMU) and the Garda National Immigration (GNIB) are working closely with airlines on a range of measures to ensure that passengers have the appropriate travel documentation when boarding. Immigration officials of my Department are available 24/7 to assist airlines with queries in relation to immigration matters.

In addition to providing advice to airlines on specific queries, training is provided to airline ground staff on current travel documentation requirements to help them identify fake documents and reduce the number of passengers boarding flights without correct documentation. It is an offence for a person to seek to enter the state without a valid passport or equivalent document.

My Department has recorded a significant reduction in 2023 in the number of people arriving in the State without the correct documentation. Q1 in 2024 has seen a further reduction in the numbers arriving without documentation based on the work that the Department’s Border Management Unit is doing in co-operation with Gardaí.

The information requested by the Deputy regarding nationalities of people who arrived at Dublin Airport, and who subsequently claimed international protection without being in possession of correct identifying documentation or no identifying documentation, has been to be collated in the manner requested with effect from October 2021 onwards. The tables below give a detailed breakdown as requested for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 to 31 March.

The table below details the number of arrivals who were not in possession of correct identifying documentation or had no identifying documentation in 2022.

Nationality	Total
Nationality	Total
Georgian	1538
Somali	920
Zimbabwean	540
Syrian	506
Iranian	391
Kuwaiti	316
Eritrean	233
Albanian	202
Algerian	178
Iraqi	96
Chinese	92
Palestinian	88
Yemeni	86
Sudanese	83
Afghan	82
Congolese (DRC)	74
Nigerian	47
Indian	40
Ethiopian	34
South African	31
Togolese	27
Sri Lankan	26
Others	170
Total	5800

The table below details the number of arrivals who were not in possession of correct identifying documentation or had no identifying documentation in 2023.

Nationality	Total
Georgian	526
Somali	486
Chinese	472
Zimbabwean	371
Syrian	335
Iranian	313
Albanian	278
Eritrean	198
Kuwaiti	191
Afghan	183
Iraqi	123
Indian	122
Algerian	115
Sudanese	100
Congolese (DRC)	60
South African	57
Palestinian	48
Yemeni	36
Nigerian	32
Ethiopian	18
Turkish	11
Others	84
Total	4159

The table below details the number of arrivals who were not in possession of correct identifying documentation or had no identifying documentation in 2024 to 31 March.

Nationality	2024*
Somali	123
Albanian	107
Georgian	92
Syrian	90
Zimbabwean	79
Iranian	58
Eritrean	52
Afghan	40
Kuwaiti	38
Chinese	36
Sudanese	31
Congolese (DRC)	17
Palestinian	16
Algerian	10
Others	63
Total	852

*All data provided is correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.

Information provided by applicants in support of their application upon arrival at the International Protection Office, including documents concerning their identity, are recorded on each individual applicant’s file. Therefore, this information is not available in a manner which allows detailed data to be extracted in the manner sought by the Deputy.