Twenty people, including nine Romanians, have been deported from Ireland since January after their applications for political asylum failed, according to Department of Justice figures.
Eleven of the 20 were deported under the 1996 Act known as the Dublin Convention. This is applied when a person is deemed to have entered another EU member-state before reaching Ireland. Under the Convention such an asylum-seeker is returned to that country to seek asylum there. The Convention was applied in the cases of five of the nine Romanians and they have been returned to other EU countries where they were deemed to have had the opportunity to apply for asylum.
Eight other Romanians in the latest group to be smuggled into Ireland were interviewed by officials from the Department of Justice yesterday. The seven men and a woman were housed in B&B accommodation in Dublin on Monday night after being found in the back of a container lorry that had travelled from Spain, through France and Britain. All eight told gardai that they were seeking political asylum.
The eight are expected to face examination under the rules of the Dublin Convention.
Officials hope to make their decision on the Romanians within two weeks.
The first group of 11 Romanians found in a container last week have had their applications processed.
Two of the 11 were returned immediately to France on the ferry after they failed to apply for political asylum. It is believed that seven of the remaining nine were recorded as having been in France and are expected to be returned there. The remaining two do not appear to have applied for asylum in any other European member-state.
An asylum-seeker can appeal the Convention ruling to the independent appeals officer, a Dublin barrister, Mr Michael O'Shea.
This appeal takes the form of a review of the file relating to the asylum-seeker, rather than an oral hearing. It consists of a review of the procedures used in processing an application. Mr O'Shea has no discretion on humanitarian grounds, as he deals only with paperwork rather than directly with the applicant.
It is believed that of about 40 such appeals which have been processed none has been upheld.
