Concern at lack of transparency in Justice’s Immigration Year in Review
On 6 January the Department of Justice published its annual Immigration Year in Review for 2013, which provides key immigration figures for the last year.
Although there are many issues raised in the Review that worry us, we are particularly concerned about the figure of 1,890 persons who were refused entry into the State. We believe this number reflects a significant lack of independent oversight and transparency at State borders and within the Department of Justice.
In the Review, the Minister has failed to provide a detailed breakdown of the reasons why 1,890 persons were refused entry to the State or their nationalities. In addition, there is no reference to the number who were subsequently permitted to enter the State following an application for asylum. We are concerned by the large number of those refused entry and fear that a number of those returned may have arrived to seek asylum in the state.
Nasc will be requesting that the Minister provide a full breakdown of nationalities and reasons given for refusing entry to these 1,890 individuals in 2013. Nasc has made numerous requests for a similar full breakdown of the numbers of persons refused entry into the State in 2012 as we had similar concerns. To date this information has not been made available to us in full despite numerous requests. Rather the Minister referred only to the top five nationalities refused entry and failed to provide detailed information as to why entry was refused.
Nasc Senior Legal Officer Claire Cumiskey comments: “It is in the interests of fair procedures and transparency for this information to be made publicly available, at the very least to ensure some level of oversight for people who present at State borders to apply for asylum.”
