A crackdown on people arriving in Ireland without passports has seen a surge in prosecutions in recent months.

Some 100 people have been prosecuted for arriving without travel documentation in the first six months of 2024.

That compares to just one prosecution in the previous five years.

It comes after Gardaí and immigration services stepped up spot checks at plane steps as passenger arrive into Dublin Airport.

So far this year, over 3,000 spot checks have been carried out at the airport – 1,500 in the first three months of the year and 1,500 in April and May.

Immigration Control at Dublin Airport's Terminal 1 is seen in 2014. Picture by: Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Irish Daily Mail Political Correspondent Aisling Moloney said the plane step spot checks were reintroduced in February of last year.

“Last year, in February 2023, when the now Taoiseach was filling in as Justice Minister, he reintroduced these doorstep operations,” she said.

“What they are is, the border management unit and the Garda National Immigration Bureau, they come together and they do spot checks.

“Where a plane lands in an airport or in Dublin Airport and people are getting off the plane, they look at their passports immediately as they step off the aircraft or they request their passport or documentation.”

Passports

The spot checks were reintroduced after Newstalk revealed that over 5,000 asylum seekers arrived in Irland without travel documents in 2022.

Meanwhile, 85% of the asylum seekers who arrived at Dublin airport in 2023 were unable to produce travel documents.

The checks were originally launched by Charles Flanagan during his time as Justice Minister but was discontinued after the current Government came to power in 2020.

Asylum seeker tents along the grand canal, 29-05-24. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

Under the Refugee Convention, everyone who arrives in Ireland fleeing persecution has the right to claim asylum – regardless of whether they are carrying travel documents.

Ms Moloney noted that there are a range of reasons why a refugee may not have a passport.

“They may not have been able to apply, they may have left their home country in haste and not been able to get their documents,” she said.

“They may also fear that when they get here and produce a passport that, because they have a passport, that they may be deported immediately to the country that they're fleeing.

“So there's lots of reasons why – and then also smugglers they can take their documents off them on the flight in many cases.”

Immigration Act

Despite the laws under the Refugee Convention, it remains illegal to arrive without a passport under Ireland’s Immigration Act.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the 100 prosecutions show that Ireland is “ramping up our firm but fair international protection system at every level and improving processing times”.

Over 9,100 asylum seekers arrived in Ireland this year up to the end of May, with 1,916 arriving last month alone.