Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said that the Government is not considering adding Nigeria to the list of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers.
The number of people who have applied for international protection here in the first three months this year is up over 72% in comparison to the same period last year.
The figures from the Department of Justice, which were released earlier this week, revealed that up until March 28th, 5,163 asylum seekers arrived in Ireland - 3,077 of whom are men and 2,081 of whom are women.
The highest number of applicants are from Nigeria (33%).
A full breakdown of applications by nationality for 2024 can be seen below:
- Nigeria 1,668
- Bangladesh 416
- Pakistan 400
- Somalia 365
- Afghanistan 243
- Zimbabwe 209
- Georgia 183
- South Africa 177
- Palestinian Territory, Occupied 170
- Jordan 154
- Algeria 124
- Botswana 104
- Democratic Republic of The Congo 69
- Syrian Arab Republic 62
- Brazil 59
- Albania 54
- India 52
- Egypt 47
- Ukraine 46
- Swaziland 45
- El Salvador 43
- Viet Nam 35
- Malawi 31
- Morocco 26
- Ghana 25
- Sudan 22
- Cameroon 19
- Iran 19
- Mauritius 17
- China 15
- Iraq 15
- Nicaragua 14
- Sri Lanka 14
- Zambia 12
- Angola 11
- Guatemala 11
- Sierra Leone 11
- Turkey 11
- Yemen 11
- Kenya 10
- Uganda 10
- Bolivia 9
- Ethiopia 7
- Honduras 7
- Venezuela 7
- Argentina 6
- Eswatini 6
- Nepal 6
Others** 86
Total 5,163
Earlier this year Algeria and Botswana were added to Ireland's list of "safe countries" and it has resulted in a dramatic reduction in applications from those countries since.
Just 2.4% of international applicants here in the first three months of this year came from Algeria, while 2% came from Botswana.
However speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in Galway today, the Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that Nigeria would not be added to the list of safe countries of origins for asylum seekers “there’s a way in which we can look at accelerated procedures where you have a particular high volume coming from an area".
"So I don’t think we would ever designate Nigeria as a safe country. But because of the increase we’ve seen in numbers, we could potentially be looking at an accelerated procedure because of the volume," she said.
Minister McEntee said her Department are looking at adding eight more safe countries to the list though, “I’m currently reviewing eight other countries to potentially add to the list of safe countries”.
Currently Italy, Bulgaria and Cyprus are the only European Union countries that lists Nigeria as a safe country of origin for international protection applicants.
The United Kingdom also lists Nigeria as a safe country of origin.
Countries who are deemed safe by the State means the Department of Justice understand that there is generally no systematic persecution, no torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or no threat of violence from an armed conflict in that country.
