The number of applications for asylum has fallen dramatically since the Government announ- ced that immigrant parents were no longer allowed to seek residency solely on the grounds that they had an Irish-born child.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, revealed yesterday that 611 asylum applications were received last month compared to almost double that number - 1,199 - in the same month of last year.
The number of applications fell sharply almost immediately after the Department of Justice announcement on February 19th that immigrant parents of children born in Ireland were no longer entitled to seek residency in the State on the basis of their status as parents.
That announcement followed a Supreme Court decision in January that non-EU immigrants did not have an automatic right to reside in Ireland solely because they were parents of Irish citizen children.
"The trend is downwards and appears to be accelerating," Mr McDowell told the Oireachtas Justice Committee yesterday. He said legislation brought into force last month making airlines and shipping companies punishable for carrying illegal immigrants into the State was likely to reduce the numbers further.
There were between 900 and 1,200 asylum applications a month in the nine months up to the announcement of the change in rights of non-Irish parents of Irish-born children. The number fell to 667 last April, just after the announcement. It has remained under 700 in each month since, according to figures Mr McDowell gave the committee.
The Minister also told the committee he was considering the introduction of fixed penalties for lesser public order offences.
Such a system would be contained in the Criminal Justice Bill, to be introduced next spring. He had initially planned an autumn introduction of the Bill, the outline of which was published six weeks ago and proposes to extend the maximum period of time gardaí can detain crime suspects. It also strengthens Garda powers in other ways, including allowing them to compel suspects to provide DNA samples during investigations.
Gardaí will be able to extend the time they can preserve the scene of a crime for forensic examination.
He told the committee that the introduction of audio-visual systems for the interviewing of suspects in Garda stations was now almost complete and was a strong protection against abuse of Garda powers of detentions. Similarly, he intended to introduce legislation before Christmas to provide for a fully independent Garda complaints procedure.