Throughout this year, over 220 individuals have faced charges for entering the State without a passport, or failing to present one, according to data from the Courts Service. As of September 15th, there have been a total of 227 people appearing in court under sections 11 and 12 of the Immigration Act 2004. They, collectively, were faced with a total of 232 charges and had 238 court orders made against them, of which included 84 jail sentences. The location they were taken into custody determined whether they were jailed in Cloverhill in Dublin, Limerick or Cork prisons. Once in prison, they have the ability to claim asylum or begin their asylum applications upon release, which commonly occurs after a period of two to three months.
Chris O’Donoghue, the head of operations at the Border Management Unit (BMU), stated that individuals have been boarding flights towards Ireland using counterfeit passports. They are advised by traffickers to dispose of those falsified documents upon arrival. He noted that asylees have been threatened with harm brought upon their families if they refuse to discard their documents.
Mr O’Donoghue clarified: “The facilitators of these travels, generally criminal gangs involved in the distribution of these false documents, advise these individuals to destroy their passports while on the aircraft as a means of increasing their chances of staying within the country and being able to proceed with their asylum application.”
From the onset of the year 2024, the BMU has sent over 40 suspected human trafficking cases over to the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). These referrals have led to the arrest and charging of individuals involved in people-smuggling offences in 17 instances, connected to the smuggling of 27 individuals via the Dublin Airport. Furthermore, one such referral resulted in the arrest of an individual from another European Union member state who is suspected of smuggling over 30 individuals into Ireland. The GNIB is still investigating other referrals.
According to data from the Courts Service, since the beginning of the year, 107 individuals were brought to court for entering the country without a passport, with 53 ending up in jail; 116 were accused of not presenting a passport when asked, out of which 31 were incarcerated and four were charged with not presenting an asylum card.
Of these, 84 were jailed, whilst the charges against 49 were dismissed. 18 individuals were instructed to make a donation to the charity box and 10 incurred penalties. Five individuals received suspended sentences and five cases were rejected. Additional penalties included probation, a peace bond and having certain factors “taken into account”.
A representative from the Department of Justice stated: “If an individual [who arrives without a passport] says they need international protection, they’re accepted into the international protection procedure complying with our global human rights and legal responsibilities.
Should an individual be convicted and be given a prison sentence, they may have already applied for international protection or they can apply from within the prison.
Once they are released, they are treated in the same way as all other international protection applicants. An individual who hasn’t applied for protection is considered illegal in the state and can be arrested awaiting ejection from the country.”