Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Border Management Unit (BMU) of my Department is responsible for front-line Immigration at Dublin Airport only, as such the below figures reflect the position at Dublin Airport. Other airports and other ports of entry are the responsibility of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) and data as requested is not collated in this manner for other ports of entry.

The BMU and the GNIB are working closely with airlines on a range of measures to ensure that passengers have the appropriate travel documentation when boarding. Immigration officials are available 24/7 to assist airlines with queries in relation to immigration matters.

In addition to providing advice to airlines on specific queries, training is provided to airline ground staff on current travel documentation requirements to help them reduce the number of passengers boarding flights without correct documentation.

The Department of Justice has recorded a 34% reduction in 2023 in the number of persons arriving in the State without the correct documentation. Q1 in 2024 has seen a further reduction in the numbers arriving without documentation. This is based on the work that the Department’s Border Management Unit is doing with GNIB.

I can further advise the Deputy that my officials have begun a review of the Carrier Liability provisions.

Data of undocumented arrivals for 2022 and 2023 has been detailed in the table below.

Year	Undocumented Arrivals
2022	4,968
2023	3,287

The table below details undocumented arrivals per month since January 2024.

Month	Undocumented Arrivals
Jan-24	205
Feb-24	225
Mar-24	188

*All data provided is correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.

Data has been collected in this format since October 2021, hence the equivalent data for previous years is not available.

The majority of those who present without appropriate documentation and are refused leave to land seek to enter the international protection process. It is also the case that some people with valid travel documents seek to enter the international protection process.

It is a offence under Section 11 of the Immigration Act 2004, for a non national to arrive in the state not in possession of a valid passport or equivalent document. As the Deputy will be aware, the prosecution of offences in these instances are a matter for An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions, who are independent in the exercise of their functions in this regard; as Minister I have no role in such prosecutions. Information in relation to the number of relevant prosecutions has been sought from An Garda Síochána.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 250 and 251 together.

The Department takes all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.

The State is required to examine the application of anyone who presents at the borders of the State, or is in the State, and indicates that they wish to make an application for international protection. This is in accordance with our obligations under international and EU asylum law and the Government takes those commitments very seriously.

It must be noted that an applicant is not legally obliged to make an application for international protection at a designated port of entry. An applicant can lodge their initial application directly with the IPO after arrival in the State.

At the International Protection Office where full applications are lodged, information provided by applicants in support of their application, including documents concerning their identity, and route travelled to Ireland are recorded as part of the applicants file, but are not stored in a manner which allows detailed data to be extracted in the manner sought by the Deputy. It is also the case that this data is provided directly by the applicants and therefore it is not possible to verify, based on the fact that there are no border checks or border infrastructure between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Maintaining an open border was a priority for the Government during Brexit negotiations.

There is ongoing cooperation with the UK on both immigration and law enforcement matters. The Common Travel Area Forum (CTAF), established in 2011, acts as a steering committee for the ongoing work of protecting the CTA in relation to free movement of its citizens between both countries while at the same time ensuring that the CTA is not abused by those not entitled to avail of it. The Forum meets twice yearly but also meets in sub-group format to address particular elements of Ireland/UK co-operation, bringing together relevant subject matter expertise in various areas.

There is also very good co-operation at operational level between the Irish Border Management Unit (BMU), Garda National immigration Bureau (GNIB) and colleagues in the UK Border Force and Immigration Enforcement. This includes a number of ongoing operations, in co-operation with the UK, tackling abuses of the CTA by identifying illegal secondary movement patterns within the CTA and taking effective actions to disrupt abuse of those routes.

The tables below provides the breakdown of the number of international protection applications recorded between 2019 and 2024 by “place of application”. Information on how a person enters the country when not through a designated port, including by travelling over the land border, is not recorded.

IP Applications - Place of Application

Year of Application	IPO	Airports	Ports	Other	Total
Year of Application	IPO	Airports	Ports	Other	Total
2019	2,277	2,384	9	112	4,782
2020	1,239	284	4	39	1,566
2021	2,101	513	9	25	2,648
2022	8,782	4,795	35	33	13,645
2023	10,380	2,857	5	28	13,270
2024(to end of Mar)	4,715	420	0	28	5,163

2024**	IPO	Airports	Ports	Other	Total
Jan	1610	158	0	5	1773
Feb	1428	137	0	4	1,569
Mar	1677	125	0	19	1,821
Total	4715	420	0	28	5,163

**Up to 31st March 2024

*Data provided is correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.