The deportation of failed asylum applicants is to be stepped up shortly, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, confirmed yesterday.
"I don't actually relish deporting anybody from this jurisdiction and it's not a very pleasant task," he said, "but it's part of the law and it's part of the process." Legislation giving gardai extra powers to detain those evading deportation is due in the coming weeks. The legislation also seeks to overcome legal difficulties which have stopped the Minister from executing deportation orders. While Mr O'Donoghue has signed more than 300 such orders, only 19 have been implemented.
"It's not a question of moving against anybody. It's a question of implementing the law of the land and implementing international law," said Mr O'Donoghue.
He claimed that about 75 per cent of the 12,000 to 15,000 asylum-seekers expected to arrive in the State this year will have their applications turned down or, in other words, be deemed illegal immigrants.
"That ultimately, obviously means that there will be deportations. There is no point in trying to say there will be no deportations. It is a feature of immigration law across the world."
The Minister also defended the Government's asylum-seeker dispersal programme, which has drawn criticism from communities identified as locations under the plan. Mr O'Donoghue said dispersal was necessary due to the accommodation shortage in Dublin.
He stressed people had nothing to fear from asylum-seekers in their midst. "All of these people are human beings, the same as you or I, and, to be quite honest about it, they will in fact live peacefully and happily within communities if given that opportunity," the Minister said.
"I am not for one moment suggesting this is an easy task. It was never going to be an easy task, no more than there is an easy solution, but it will be clear that there are humanitarian and legal obligations involved which must be fulfilled."
Members of the directorate of the asylum support services had visited areas where asylum-seekers were due to be located "and have in so far as they could explained to people what precisely was involved," said Mr O'Donoghue.
