The Refugee Applications Commissioner had recommended that 541 asylum-seekers be granted refugee status by the end of July this year. However, 3,686 applications were turned down following an interview. A further 1,067 were refused following failure to attend for a second interview.
Altogether, 1,133 applications for refugee status were submitted to the Irish authorities in July, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. This compared with 869 in June.
Overall, the numbers of people seeking asylum status in the Republic are at similar levels to the previous two years. In 2000 there were 10,938 applications for asylum, in 2001 there were 10,325 and to the end of July this year, 6,218. The top five countries of origin of asylum-seekers this year are Nigeria, Romania, Moldova, Zimbabwe and Ukraine.
The UN figures show that, in terms of the countries of origin of asylum-seekers, trends are different in the Republic to those in Europe as a whole. People from Iraq were the main source of asylum applications in 21 European countries.