The Irish Refugee Council has urged the Seanad to reject a proposed law, which it says would force refugees to risk their lives to claim asylum in Ireland.
The Immigration Bill, 2002, imposes fines of up to €3,000 on airlines, ferries and hauliers found carrying undocumented migrants into Ireland from outside the UK.
The Bill, including Government amendments tightening up the asylum process, was debated before the Seanad yesterday and Wednesday, and is expected to come before the upper house again next month.
The council said the Bill, if implemented as proposed, would indiscriminately deny individuals fleeing persecution the right to enter Ireland in safety and dignity.
"This will undoubtedly play into the hands of criminal networks. The senators must reject this legislation out of hand. Avoiding the loss of life must be the priority," said chief executive, Mr Peter O'Mahony.
Mr O'Mahony said the Bill "unquestionably undermines the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, which explicitly recognises the fact that many who are forced to flee persecution will have to use false documentation.
"At present it is almost impossible for many individuals fleeing persecution to enter Ireland legally. Under the planned legislation, many asylum claims would in effect not be determined by the relevant Government bodies, but by untrained employees of airlines, hauliers and ferry companies, who would be forced to adopt the role of the Irish immigration authorities."
He said Government amendments proposed in the Bill, under which asylum-seekers who failed to meet new shortened deadlines for dealing with applications would have their cases "deemed withdrawn", were unmanageable.
Under these amendments, asylum-seekers who do not inform the Refugee Applications Commissioner of their addresses within five days of applying for refugee status will have their cases deemed withdrawn. Mr O'Mahony said these provisions did not take into account delays in the postal service and other factors such as language and lack of familiarity with the asylum procedure.
Referring to the entire Bill, he said: "What Ireland has regrettably been doing in recent years and months is making it more difficult for people to apply for asylum in the country through carrier laws and making the regime in the country ever more difficult."