Asylum-seekers refused embarkation by Irish Ferries at the French port of Cherbourg had the right and duty to apply for refugee status in France, the Minister for Justice said yesterday. Mr O'Donoghue was at a graduation ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore.
He said there was no question of any person being denied refugee status for not being allowed to embark on a ferry in France as it was a signatory to the 1951 convention on refugees. Under the Dublin Convention, asylum-seekers make the application for asylum in the country where they can first reasonably do so.
"For any person arriving in this country at the present time from Nigeria, for example, it would not be possible unless he came by balloon - and I don't mean to be facetious - for him not to have travelled in a European country, for the very simple reason that there are no direct flights between here and Nigeria."
Mr O'Donoghue recently disclosed that 124 people were refused permission to travel by Irish Ferries staff in Cherbourg between November 20th and December 31st because of inadequate or false documents.
He said the Department was advising Irish Ferries what documentation travellers from non-EU states needed. "Any person who is refused embarkation by Irish Ferries does, of course, not just have the opportunity but the duty under international law to make his or her application for asylum in France."
But any person who arrived on Irish territory, including its seas, was entitled to claim asylum, and the State had a duty to hear the application. Nobody had a right to enter the State with incorrect documentation.
"However," the Minister said, "every person who claims to be a refugee has a right to claim asylum. Any person who arrives in this country, with or without documentation, who applies for asylum will have his case heard."
In his speech to 146 gardai who graduated at the college, he said more than 200 people had been repatriated to their countries of origin since the Garda National Immigration Bureau was set up last May.
"It has established effective operational co-operation with immigration and police authorities in other jurisdictions including, in particular, the United Kingdom and France which are major source countries for illegal immigration to Ireland," he said.
A report on civilianisation in the Garda would shortly be brought to Government, Mr O'Donoghue said. It envisaged the release of 556 gardai from administrative and technical areas and would not affect the increase in the force's strength to 12,000.