The office of the refugee applications commissioner granted asylum to only 345 of the over 8,600 applications it received in 2003, according to its annual report. It rejected 96 per cent of applications.
By contrast, 825 people were granted refugee status at appeal stage, out of over 5,000 appeals. This means that 70 per cent of the 1,170 people granted refugee status last year won it on appeal rather than through their initial application.
Nigeria remains the country from which most applicants come, accounting for 40 per cent of the total, followed by Romania with just under 10 per cent.
The office processed over 9 per cent more applications than it received last year. This meant it reduced the backlog of applications from 4,500 to 3,300.
It also reflected the fact that applications for asylum are down by a massive 32 per cent, to 7,900, and Ireland now ranks 13th in Europe in terms of destinations for asylum-seekers.
There was also a huge fall in the number of withdrawn applications last year, from 6,064 in 2002 to 1,234 in 2003.
This has been attributed to the L and O decision in the Supreme Court, which found that the parents of Irish-born children no longer had automatic right of residency in Ireland.
Previously asylum-seekers often withdrew their application on the birth of a child and sought residency on that basis.
The refugee applications commissioner, Ms Berenice O'Neill, said she hoped that the office would be up to date with the processing of applications by early next year.
Under recent legislation, applications from certain types of applicant and certain countries deemed safe are fast-tracked and processed within six weeks.
Accordingly, approximately 40 per cent of new cases last year were completed in under five to six weeks, according to Ms O'Neill.
The Office of Refugee Applications also launched its three-year Corporate Plan, Strategy Statement and Customer Charter yesterday.
These included a review of procedures to ensure that applicants not subject to prioritisation are not disproportionately disadvantaged, Ms O'Neill said.
Launching the report, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said that recent legislative changes were aimed at ensuring our asylum process was supported by a streamlined legislative framework.
It had to provide protection speedily while at the same time dealing with the high level of abuse.
While 90 per cent of applications, after appeals, are found not to meet the refugee definition in the Geneva Convention, 10 per cent are found to be in need of protection, he said, and they do find it much faster.
Commenting on the report, Mr Peter O'Mahony of the Irish Refugee Council said that the new EU accession countries were now experiencing pressure from refugees as the numbers applying in western Europe were falling.
He also pointed out that 90 people per week were refused entry into Ireland and never made applications.
"We don't know how many of those were trying to seek asylum," he said.