Majority of asylum seekers arrive at Dublin Airport without identity documents

The majority of people who applied for international protection at Dublin Airport in 2023 arrived with either no or false identity documents.

The figures have been supplied by the Department of Justice via a freedom of information request made by Newstalk.

In total, 4,007 people arrived at Dublin Airport with no or false identity documents last year, representing 85 per cent of all asylum applications that were made at Dublin Airport in 2023.

Of the 2,591 men who claimed asylum at Dublin Airport last year, almost 87 per cent presented with no or false identity documents.

Meanwhile, 13,227 international protection applicants arrived in Ireland in 2023, meaning just over one-third of all asylum applications here last year were made at the capital's airport.

It comes after the Department of Integration published figures on Friday showing that 1,436 asylum seekers who arrived in Ireland since mid-December had not been offered accommodation.

Of these, 171 males were offered accommodation after an ‘availability and vulnerability’ triage, 1,265 people had received a contingency payment in lieu of accommodation, and 255 had subsequently been offered accommodation.

Asylum seekers who are not offered accommodation receive a temporary allowance increase from €38.80 to €113.80 a week.

Some of those without accommodation have been seen camping in tents around the International Protection office in Dublin city.

The State has struggled to house asylum seekers arriving in Ireland because of a lack of supply in its long-running housing crisis and a steep increase in the number of people arriving in Ireland seeking refuge.