Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

In July 2023, I asked the Minister for Justice how many asylum seekers were coming from Britain through the North of Ireland into the South of Ireland over the past five years. At that stage, approximately 66% of those were making applications to the International Protection Office. The Minister stated in her reply to the parliamentary question that the question about what routes they used to come into the country was not asked of the asylum seekers. I thought this was a stunning answer: that a Minister in charge of this particular issue would not ask basic questions of individuals coming into the country.

I asked the same question in October 2023 about how asylum seekers were getting into the State, and the Minister for Justice did change the answer a little bit. She told me that the information is not recorded. I asked the same question again two weeks ago and she again changed the answer a little bit. She said that it was not possible to extract that information from the data. It is astonishing that we have such a system when so many people are coming into the country. They are applying to the International Protection Office, but the staff of the Minister for Justice are not asking them how they came into the State.

It is not the only question that was not asked. After 14 migrants were found in a refrigerated container in Rosslare, just narrowly managing to escape with their lives, I asked the Minister how many vehicles are checked at ports across the country. She said that statistics are not available on the number of searches that are carried out on ports.

I also asked the Minister for Justice how many applicants to the International Protection Office have gone missing in the State in the past five years. Again, incredibly, the Minister stated that the requested statistics are not recorded in a manner to allow for that information to be extracted.

For nearly three years I have also been asking a question about how many people who have come into the country who have had a deportation order made against them have had that deportation order actioned. Incredibly, I have been told that 85% of those deportation orders over the past five years were never actioned. I asked what happened to these people and I was told that most of these people had voluntary deportation orders. I then asked the question of whether there was any confirmation that these people had left the country. The Minister said "No" and that we have no facility at the ports of exit to be able to confirm the exit of these individuals. She said that in some cases the Garda Síochána may have information about this but they were not able to confirm that either. That was in the reply to the parliamentary question.

Shockingly, we have this crisis on our hands, that has been developing over the past number of years. A large part of that crisis is as a result of the Minister for Justice not knowing what is happening within the Department. That is incredible. I believe it has led to a significant increase this year in the number of people coming into the country. It has also led to a situation where the Tánaiste rebuked and contradicted the Minister for Justice this week. Now, it has also led to a breakdown in relationships with the British Government. Emergency legislation is being introduced to deal with this matter. I understand it is to allow for people to be returned to Britain. The British Government is refusing to accept that it will apply the legislation, which it says cannot be enforced. How is the Government going to make the British accept the new returns policy in the legislation?

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