{"id":523205,"date":"2026-06-28T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523205\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:44:09","slug":"sharp-fall-in-number-of-asylum-seekers-since-eu-migration-pact-says-jim-ocallaghan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523205\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharp fall in number of asylum seekers since EU migration pact, says Jim O\u2019Callaghan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of people coming to Ireland to seek asylum has halved in the two weeks since the EU<\/a> migration pact came into operation, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan stressed that it is \u201cvery early stages\u201d for the new rules and advised caution in interpreting the early data. However, he said the numbers suggested that Ireland was not, as critics had claimed, losing control over the asylum process.<\/p>\n

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which came into operation on June 12th, establishes common standards and processes for dealing with asylum seekers throughout the bloc. It also requires all member states that have signed up to shoulder a share of the EU burden as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very early stages, but obviously the whole purpose of the legislation, the whole purpose of the agreement amongst EU member states, was to try to apply a more vigorous system,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan told RT\u00c9<\/a> Radio\u2019s This Week programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the early numbers indicate that the number of people claiming asylum are down very significantly. In the first two weeks, 272 people have claimed asylum in Ireland, which is significantly lower, it is about a half of what it usually is. In fact, the two weeks beforehand, we saw 700 people apply, which was quite high.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan suggested that the decline may be related to the role that traffickers play in the movement of asylum seekers<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll be looking to see how the new system is operating and looking for ways to get around it. But the new, vigorous process that is in place, a new, vigorous screening process, security checks, identification verification, mean that it is very difficult for people coming from other EU countries where they\u2019ve already claimed asylum to move to Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that it appeared the numbers of people coming over the Border with Northern Ireland to claim asylum was falling. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland\u2019s asylum system is flawed, but a factory for fast decisions is not the answerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI think anyone who has a fair claim for asylum will be able to be heard,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cI can\u2019t ignore the indisputable fact that the majority of people who apply for asylum in Ireland ultimately are determined not to be entitled to asylum. Now, that is indisputable. Nobody can dispute that fact. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut what we\u2019re doing here is we\u2019re trying to ensure that the systems in place will deter and screen out individuals who are not entitled to asylum, and try to ensure that people who are legitimately entitled to asylum are expedited, and their process of claims are heard fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan also said that the Government had an \u201copen mind\u201d about the possible use of return hubs in third countries, where the EU would send asylum seekers while their claims are considered. But he said that Ireland could seek to progress the necessary legislation during its EU presidency. <\/p>\n

He also said that his role as Minister for Justice was not to provide accommodation for people whose cases have been adjudicated on in the asylum system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 33,000 people being accommodated within the international protection system. That accommodation is for people who are applying for international protection. It is not there for people who\u2019ve been granted international protection, or people who, indeed, have been refused international protection. It\u2019s for applicants, and that\u2019s the European obligation that is imposed upon us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of people coming to Ireland to seek asylum has halved in the two weeks since the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,7038,43],"class_list":["post-523205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523205","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=523205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}