People traffickers are collecting passports “on the plane” when smuggling asylum seekers into Ireland, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.
But Leo Varadkar also insisted that the number of paperless arrivals into Dublin Airport was falling, and that most International Protection applicants were crossing the border from Northern Ireland.
“It’s not always the case that people destroy their documents. We don’t find destroyed documents in bins or in bathrooms (at Dublin Airport),” he told Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath.
“What happens is they’re trafficked into the country and the person who trafficks them takes the IDs off them at a certain point – probably while they’re still on the plane.”
The Government was doing everything it can to crack down on trafficking, he said, and “people are being sent back all the time.”.
He added: “There will be increasing checks on people coming off the planes, and not just at border control. We are liaising with airlines to make sure that their staff are properly trained.
“We have fines which we impose on airlines if they allow people onto aircraft who are undocumented and we are seeing a reduction in the number of undocumented people coming through Dublin Airport.
“But we estimate and believe, based on evidence, that the majority of people who seek international protection in Ireland come across the border from North to South.
“And I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that we close the border. And of course, they go in the other direction too.”
Mr Varadkar said 40pc of people who apply for international protection are granted it, which was not far off half the total.
“So we need to bear in mind when people see a group of migrants coming into the country that roughly half of them are determined by our system deserving of international protection.
“It’s not a small minority. It’s 40pc – and that’s why we need to make sure that we assess every application fairly.”
If somebody comes to an airport without documents, they are sent back, which happens continuously, the Taoiseach said.
However, if they apply for international protection they are allowed to have their application heard fairly.
He told Mr McGrath: “You’re suggesting that we leave the United Nations, exempt ourselves from international law, and become some sort of hermit kingdom. That’s just not common sense.”
Mr McGrath said however that the Taoiseach should receive “a gold medal for disseminating disinformation and downright lies”.
He was told by the Ceann Comhairle that he could not charge anyone in the House with lying.
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