Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

In response to the Deputy's specific questions, in 2019, of 35 people transferred, 33 were sent to the United Kingdom. In 2020, of eight people transferred, seven were sent to the UK. This is at the top of my list. In fact, I am criticised for trying to deal with issues in respect of international protection and for giving too much priority to it but it is an absolutely essential issue. In terms of what the Deputy said about the figures, what we have is an assessment that the figures are very high because huge percentages of people are applying for international protection at the International Protection Office, IPO. They are not applying at the airport and while it is not conclusive, we believe it is strongly persuasive evidence that those individuals who apply for asylum at the IPO are coming south over the Border. That is supported anecdotally as well. The percentage of people applying for asylum at the IPO is 87%.

As I have said previously, there are many people going in the other direction. When I speak to the Home Secretary, she will be saying to me that she has great concern about people flying into Dublin Airport and coming into Britain through Northern Ireland.

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