Ireland comes 10th for asylum requests
MAIN DESTINATION FOR NIGERIANS IN EUROPE
For international protection applicants, three Dublin local authority areas top the list – Dublin City Council (3,802), followed by South Dublin (3,569) and Fingal (2,591) – bottom are Leitrim
(104), Longford (136) and Kilkenny (137).
More than 106,000 Ukrainian refugees have come here after the outbreak of the conflict in February 2022, but thousands have since gone home, while others have secured employment and are renting.
Peadar Toibin TD, leader of the Aontu party, who requested the data, said: “It’s clear from these figures that there is still a significant regional imbalance in the distribution of immigrants into the country.”
A LARGE crowd took part in an anti-immigration march in Dublin city centre yesterday afternoon.
The protesters walked from the Garden of Remembrance and along O’Connell Street, where there was a strong garda presence, including officers from the Public Order Unit. At the GPO, the marchers passed a smaller pro-Palestine group, during which chants were exchanged as gardaí stood in
A BREAKDOWN of asylum applications across 29 European nations shows Ireland had the tenth-highest number of applications for international protection in February.
Data from the European Union Agency for Asylum shows that 36 per cent of applications from Nigeria in the EU+ area in February 2024 were recorded in Ireland – up from 13 per cent in 2023.
Jean-Christophe Dumont, between both groups.
The anti-immigration march then moved to Customs House Quay, where they gathered for a rally which lasted almost two hours.
The rally heard repeated antiGovernment calls of “get them out, get them out”, as well as criticism of opposition political parties.
The crowd heard from a number of speakers, including candidates in the upcoming local and European elections. head of the OECD International Migration Division, said the trend of Nigerians seeking asylum in Ireland was present in 2023 but it has accelerated.
“In Ireland, the main nationality in 2023 was already Nigeria. Most recent data for February 2024 confirm this composition.”
There is a noticeable trend across Europe for certain citizenships to lodge the vast majority of their applications in a single EU country.
“Overall the main nationality in Europe is Syria and Afghanistan is second”, said Mr. Dumont this week.
While Ireland is a main destination for Nigerians, threequarters of Bangladeshis lodge their applications in Italy.
Position
The latest figures from February 2024 reveal Germany has maintained its position as the foremost destination for asylum seekers in the EU+, receiving the most applications at over 21,000.
France received 12,375 applications but this was surpassed by Italy which had the second-highest number of applications at 13,849.
Ireland is in tenth place with 1,569 applications – a fraction of the 21,285 lodged in Germany in February.
Data from the European Union Agency show that four per cent of all EU asylum applications from Georgia were lodged in Ireland.