Mr. Michael Kirrane:

The Deputy raised a number of points. In terms of leave to land, the numbers have increased but so has the annual throughput of passengers into and out of the country. The projections for Dublin Airport are for 32 million passenger movements this year. It was only a few short years ago when that figure was 19 million. When one maps the increased throughput of passengers with the increase in the number of refusals, they are pretty much in line. It is not the case that there has suddenly been a change in policy in INIS or among immigration officers at airports to refuse more people. Before staff get to the front line, they spend approximately six weeks training in how to determine precisely which cases do and do not qualify for leave to land. There are a myriad of reasons for people being refused leave to land, for example, people not having visas or documentation but somehow managing to board aircraft at the other end or significant evidence that their purpose is not to come to Ireland but to use the common travel area to get to the UK etc.

If someone who is seeking international protection claims asylum, he or she is immediately sent to the accommodation centre in Balseskin, his or her preliminary details are taken and his or her application is processed. That has always been the case; there is no change in how that system operates.