{"id":161167,"date":"2025-11-26T19:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/161167\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T19:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:13:13","slug":"significant-number-in-ireland-coming-from-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/161167\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Significant’ number in Ireland coming from Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabija GataveckaiteBBC News NI Dublin correspondent<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

New plans to reduce asylum seeker supports have been brought forward by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan<\/p>\n

About 87% of people seeking international protection in the Republic of Ireland have come from across the border with Northern Ireland, according to the Irish justice minister.<\/p>\n

Jim O’Callaghan said this data has been provided to him by officials in the Irish Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

The comments come as the Irish government backed plans to reduce asylum seeker supports at a meeting of senior ministers on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

These include charges of accommodation for asylum seekers with jobs, tighter family reunification rules and lengthening the time needed to apply for citizenship.<\/p>\n

O’Callaghan said that if people are not applying for asylum at the airport, the “strong likelihood” is that they are applying after coming over the border.<\/p>\n

The justice minister also said a “very significant” number of applicants for international protection have come from the UK, which “as we know is a safe country, but may have also come from another European country prior to that”.<\/p>\n

“The figures for that are approximately 87% or so,” he added.<\/p>\n

A ‘two-way’ issue<\/p>\n

The minister said he does not want to send back asylum seekers to the UK, as there are also asylum seekers going to the UK from Ireland, describing it as a “two-way issue”.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just an issue that affects Ireland, it affects the UK as well.”<\/p>\n

\"ReutersReuters<\/p>\n

The minister said that about 45,000 people have applied for asylum in the Republic of Ireland since 2022<\/p>\n

O’Callaghan said before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were about 3,000 to 4,000 asylum seekers coming into the Republic per year. However, this increased to more than 18,500.<\/p>\n

Across three years – 2022, 2023 and 2024 – around 45,000 people applied for asylum.<\/p>\n

“My view is that is too high,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the “overwhelming majority of people” have their applications for international protection rejected “at first instance”, which is around 81% and some people appeal this decision.<\/p>\n

What are the new Irish asylum proposals?<\/p>\n

The new plans were brought forward by O’Callaghan and Junior Minister for Migration, Colm Brophy.<\/p>\n

International protection applicants who have jobs but live in state accommodation will be charged from \u20ac15 (\u00a313) to \u20ac238 (\u00a3208) per week under proposals previously seen by BBC NI.<\/p>\n

The amount asylum seekers pay will depend on their weekly income.<\/p>\n

For example, asylum seekers earning from \u20ac97.01 (\u00a385) up to \u20ac150 (\u00a3131) per week may be charged \u20ac15 (\u00a313) per week.<\/p>\n

But those earning \u20ac600.01(\u00a3526) and higher per week may have to pay \u20ac238 (\u00a3208) per week towards accommodation.<\/p>\n

Asylum seekers who do not pay the charges and build up “significant arrears” may face court.<\/p>\n

They may also be pursued by debt collectors.<\/p>\n

The changes also include the power to revoke or refuse a residence permit for a refugee if they are found to be in danger to the security of the state.<\/p>\n

\"ReutersReuters<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said plans to charge asylum seekers a portion of their income is “a common sense measure”<\/p>\n

Asylum seekers who apply for citizenship also will have to show they can be self-sufficient and having not received certain social welfare payments before the previous two years.<\/p>\n

Family reunification rules will also be tightened and those applying for citizenship will have to live in Ireland for five years, instead of three.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste (Irish deputy prime minister) Simon Harris said on Tuesday plans to charge asylum seekers a portion of their income is “a common sense measure”.<\/p>\n

But some Irish opposition parties have criticised the proposals, with Labour TD Ged Nash accusing Minister O’Callaghan of “virtue signalling” on immigration.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in TD Matt Carthy urged the Irish government to implement the plans quickly.<\/p>\n

He said the Irish government should set up a “bilateral returns agreement” with the UK.<\/p>\n

“Without that, and without concrete measures to address processing times and ensure enforcement of decisions, no amount of recycled announcements will fix the realities of a dysfunctional IPAS system,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gabija GataveckaiteBBC News NI Dublin correspondent PA Media New plans to reduce asylum seeker supports have been brought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-161167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}