The State was spending €300 million a year on the asylum issue, money which could be better spent on other things, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said yesterday.
The Minister said most Irish people realised "in their hearts" that the situation with asylum- seekers could not continue and it was only "a vocal minority" who kept attacking the Government's handling of the asylum-seeker issue.
Mr McDowell said that 90 per cent of those who applied for asylum in Ireland were found to be unjustified at the end of the process.
Of the remaining 10 per cent, 95 per cent were found to have travelled through convention countries and were not entitled to seek asylum in Ireland because it was not their first country of arrival.
Speaking on Radio Kerry, Mr McDowell said he was not going to apologise to anybody for his line on the asylum-seeker issue.
"The reason is 95 per cent of people support me. There's a vocal minority of people who keep attacking me. But I believe that the people realise in their hearts that what has been going on for a number of years cannot be allowed to continue" he said.
Dr Ed Ritchie, the chairman of the Killarney Asylum-Seekers Initiative Committee, said asylum- seekers were most anxious to work and not to be a burden on the State.