Ms Oonagh Buckley:

Such suggestions were made in previous committee hearings. It is worth pointing out that it is not possible to estimate how many people will present in any one day applying for international protection. For example, on one day at the beginning of the year, 132 people presented looking for international protection.

The other changing aspect is the countries from which the flow of people is coming. That is affected by developments outside Ireland. A very large proportion of people now applying for international protection come from Albania and Georgia, which are regarded by Ireland as safe countries. We believe that is due to a change in visa arrangements in the Schengen area, which is outside the control of Ireland.