Asylum

The Bibby Stockholm barge will no longer be used to house asylum from January next year, the UK government has announced. Moored in Portland, Dorset, it is one of three major accommodation sites for asylum seekers. The "floating prison" was commissioned in April 2023 but only began housing peop

Around £700 million was spent on the previous UK government's controversial Rwanda scheme and over £10 billion had been set aside for it over a six-year period, the new government has revealed. Home secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday told MPs that the scheme, which after two-and-a-half ye

South Africa and Botswana are to be added to the list of countries whose nationals must obtain a visa before travelling to Ireland. The change, which brings Irish visa requirements in line with the UK and the Schengen area, will come into effect from Wednesday 10 July but transitional arrangements w

Brazil, Egypt, India, Malawi and Morocco have been added to the list of 'safe countries of origin' used for processing asylum claims. Under an accelerated decision-making process introduced in November 2022, applicants from 'safe countries' are currently receiving first decisions in less than 90 day

The Oireachtas will later continue a tense debate on the government's proposal to fully opt-in to the EU Migration and Asylum Pact. Taoiseach Simon Harris yesterday told TDs that the pact "is a united effort from Europe, after excruciating work and negotiation over a long period, to ensure we have f

Around 400 additional staff will be appointed to the International Protection Office over the next 12 months in a bid to "maintain processing times, significantly increase removals and enhance border security". Justice minister Helen McEntee said the additional resources are necessary as between 20,

Two young Iraqi women can claim asylum in the Netherlands on the basis that they have become "westernised" during their stay in the country and could be persecuted if forced to return to Iraq, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled. The two women are sisters of Iraqi nationality

At the beginning of this month, 285 people seeking international protection were moved from a makeshift campsite outside the International Protection Office (IPO) in Dublin’s Mount Street. Weeks later, 55 asylum seekers set up camp along the Grand Canal just hours after another tent clearance.

The UN's refugee agency has urged the Irish and UK governments not to leave asylum seekers in "legal limbo" amid an escalating diplomatic row. The Irish government this week announced plans to bring forward legislation designating the UK as a safe country to which asylum seekers can be returned.

Ministers have agreed to change the law to allow failed asylum seekers to be returned to the UK. A bill to amend the International Protection Act 2015 will be brought to the Oireachtas after the High Court found in March that the UK's post-Brexit designation as a safe country for asylum returns was

Ireland should not "mimic the UK" by seeking to turn away asylum seekers, human rights campaigners have said amid an escalating row over arrivals to Ireland from the UK. The Irish government has said it believes around 80 per cent of international protection applicants who have arrived in Ireland in

The Department of Justice has been challenged to explain how it determined that 80 per cent of asylum seekers arriving in Ireland in recent months have come via the UK. Justice minister Helen McEntee is expected to bring legislation to the Oireachtas providing for the designation of the UK as a 'saf

Asylum claims from Nigeria are to be prioritised for at least the next three months under a new government policy. From today, the International Protection Office (IPO) will prioritise and accelerate applicants from the country of origin with the highest number of applications in the previous three

Dr Mariza Avgeri, a graduate of Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology's PhD programme, has been named joint winner of the prestigious European Law Faculties Association (ELFA) award for the best doctoral thesis on European law for 2023. The ELFA thesis award "seeks to stimulate and recog

The Irish government has welcomed the EU's approval of major reforms to European migration and asylum policy, despite fierce criticism from human rights campaigners. In a series of votes passed by varying margins, the European Parliament yesterday adopted 10 legislative texts which collectively impl