Algeria and Botswana will be added to list of ‘safe countries’
McEntee tightens criteria in bid to stem surge in asylum seekers
ALGERIA and Botswana are set to be added to Government’s list of ‘safe’ countries in a bid to stem the number of refugees entering Ireland.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee will bring a memo to Cabinet outlining that the two African nations are deemed to be ‘safe’, meaning it can generally be shown that people there do not face persecution, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or a threat of violence from conflict.
The move is understood to be aimed at reducing the record numbers of asylum seekers applying for protection in this country.
Last year, 1,462 Algerians arrived in Ireland, representing 11% of more than 13,000 asylum seekers in total, while a further 370 arrived from Botswana.
There are currently eight countries designated as safe countries of origin – Albania,
15,000 applicants will be ‘new normal’
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of), Montenegro, Serbia and South Africa.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman said that an average of 15,000 international protection applicants arriving in Ireland each year will be the ‘new normal’.
The numbers seeking asylum here has soared since the pandemic, from 4,782 in 2019 to 13,277 last year.
Ms McEntee recently commenced a review of Safe Countries of Origin amid a surge in asylum seekers arriving in the country in the last two years.
She introduced a new accelerated procedure for applicants from safe countries of origin in November 2022.
Applicants from safe countries now receive a first instance decision in less than three months, a significant reduction from the norm of 22 to 26 months in recent years.
Ministers were told that when Georgia was added to the safe countries list, the number of applicants from that country halved.
When assessing ‘safe countries’, the Justice Minister must take into account the extent to which protection is provided against persecution or mistreatment by the relevant laws and regulations of the country and the manner in which they are applied.
However, a report by the organisation Human Rights Watch into
Algeria last year noted that the authorities ‘continued their crackdown on dissent’ against the regime despite a lull in antigovernment protests.
This has been done, the report states, ‘through restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, assembly and movement’.
It states: ‘Activists, human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers have been prosecuted for their peaceful activism, opinions, or in connection to their professions.’
It noted that around 250 individuals were being held in prison for participation in peaceful protest or activism. The shortfall in available accommodation has led the Government to tighten the criteria on those arriving here, as they scramble to move from an emergency footing to a more manageable asylum process.
The influx of Ukrainian refugees, who are automatically granted special refugee status under the EU wide Temporary Protection Order, has made the task more challenging as resources in communities nationwide are further strained.
The State has accepted more than 103,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. The Government is continuing to progress legislation to reduce social welfare from €220 per week to €38.80 per week as well as reducing housing entitlements to Ukrainians in a bid to reduce the numbers arriving in Ireland from there.
Mr O’Gorman told a sub Cabinet meeting on Ukraine that the numbers of refugees arriving from there has dropped significantly since the start of the year, from around 600-700 per week to 150 per week.
Mr O’Gorman told The Irish Times last week that he is open to providing incentives, including paying for flights, to encourage people to return to Ukraine to help rebuild their country when it is safe to do so.
Authorities continue their crackdown