Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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466. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that have arrived in Ireland seeking asylum without the necessary travel documents such as a passport each year for the past ten years; the process when this occurs; and the number of asylum seekers that the State has repatriated as a result of not having the necessary travel documents. [60422/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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An international protection applicant is someone who has left their country and seeks protection in another country. Seeking protection is a human right and when someone asks for protection at the border of a country, that country’s authorities must examine that application. Ireland, as a party to the Geneva Convention, must also meet this obligation.

Immigration officials conduct passport checks on arrival to ensure passengers are properly documented in accordance with Section 11 of the Immigration Act 2004. If a person indicates or is identified as being in need of international protection, they are admitted to the international protection process.

The International Protection Office (IPO) of my Department is responsible for examining all international protection applications received. The staff of the IPO are independent by law in the exercise of their international protection functions.  

I can assure the Deputy that the establishment of an applicant’s identity and nationality is an important feature of every immigration process and this is especially so in the context of persons who enter the Irish State for the purposes of making a claim for international protection. Each application for international protection is examined in detail on its individual merits, taking all factors into account.

As recently advised to the Deputy, the IPO does not collate statistics relating to applications for international protection based on whether such applicants were refused leave to land or whether a person had valid documentation upon arrival at a port of entry.

However, to be helpful to the Deputy, I have sought information from the Border Management Unit of my Department on the number of persons that have arrived at Dublin Airport seeking asylum without the necessary travel documents.

*Data for previous years in not available. Data recording was modified during 2020 to distinguish the cohort of arrivals arriving undocumented from the total number refused leave to land.

The Border Management unit also advise that in the first 11 months of 2022 out of a total of 6,921 people refused leave to land, 6,080 people indicated an intention to claim asylum. It is important to note that this figure includes those in possession of valid documentation. Again, figures are currently available only for Dublin Airport. 

Figures are not maintained by my Department broken down by whether an unsuccessful applicant for international protection had a valid passport or other travel documentation upon arrival in the State.