New UK asylum law may affect Ireland

Tough new asylum measures introduced in Britain yesterday could affect Government policy in the area, the Department of Justice has said.

A spokesman noted the measures, which will bar certain asylum-applicants from claiming state support in Britain, could be "a pull factor" in the Republic. "Whatever happens in Britain we are cognisant of, particularly as we operate a common travel area," the spokesman said.

The Government is already planning to introduce new regulations in the coming months requiring people to apply for asylum as soon as they arrive in the State.

A proposal to withhold "direct provision" welfare payments, currently standing at €19.10 for each adult a week, from those applicants who refuse to do so is also being considered.

The changes introduced in Britain yesterday, under the British Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, have been strongly criticised by refugee welfare groups who say thousands of asylum-seekers will be left homeless and penniless.

The new rules will affect asylum-seekers who do not put in their claims on arrival at ports and airports but apply later on, some time after they have entered Britain. They will no longer be entitled to support for living costs or help with housing, although exceptions will be made for families with children, pregnant women and those with special needs.

The measures are designed to stop economic migrants from using the asylum system to delay their removal. They are also aimed at clamping down on the practice of asylum-applicants paying human traffickers for their transit to Britain through welfare payments.

The Department spokesman said it, along with other parties to a Government sub-committee on asylum and immigration, was "looking at all these issues with the intention of bringing forward new legislative proposals".

The Attorney General's office has been asked to provide legal advice on some of the proposals.

They include a plan by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to have his Department take over from the Department of Social and Family Affairs the administration of welfare payments to some 5,000 asylum-seekers currently living in State-provided accommodation throughout the Republic.

Further changes are due to be introduced through amendments to the Immigration Bill 2002, currently before the Oireachtas.

The amendments include a provision for drafting a list of "safe countries" to which asylum-applicants will be immediately returned if they do not meet exceptional conditions.

Ten European Union accession states, as well as countries recognised as having a good human rights record, are to be included on the list, which will be finalised in the coming months.

The Government has defended the new proposals by claiming they will help to speed up the application process and will "flush out" those immigrants who are waiting to come to the attention of the authorities before lodging applications.

It notes that after last year's Operation Hyphen Garda clampdown on illegal immigrants, the number of applications increased from about 800 to 1,000 a month.