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More than 13,000 people have been refused permission to enter Ireland in the last four years, according to the Department of Justice.

The volume of refusals was recently disclosed via a Dáil question by Deputy Mattie McGrath, who asked Justice Minister Charles Flanagan to state the total number of persons that have tried to gain unlawful entry to the country since 2014, as well as to highlight the measures taken by the department in response to such attempts.

In his response, Minister Flanagan said that 13,620 were refused entry over the last four years, with the highest number of refusals (3,951) in 2016.

”Every state has a duty to protect its borders and to refuse entry to those persons not entitled to enter the state. This is a fundamental exercise of State sovereignty necessary to protect the security of the State and to prevent illegal immigration,” said Minister Flanagan.

“The exercise of powers in this area is subject to the law and respect for individual rights. In enforcing the law in this respect, Ireland is no different from other countries who also remove individuals who have no lawful right to enter or remain in their territory.”

Generally, a person may be refused permission to enter the State on one or more of the 12 grounds set out in Section 4 (3) of the Immigration Act 2004, as amended by the International Protection Act 2015. 

“Every person refused permission to enter the State is served with a notice in which the reason, or reasons, for refusing an application for permission to enter the State is set out,” the minister said.

Anyone refused permission to enter Ireland may be removed from the State, as stipulated by Section 5 of the act.

“It specifies that a person to whom this section applies may be arrested by an immigration officer or a member of An Garda Síochána and detained in a prescribed place of detention for the purpose of facilitating their removal from the State, which must be as soon as is practicable. In the vast majority of cases persons are returned on the next available flight or vessel within a short period of time,” said Minister Flanagan.

“Others are granted a temporary permission to enter the State pending removal usually on the condition they report to their nearest Garda station. Removals are generally operational matters for the Garda National Immigration Bureau, who work closely with officials of my Department in arranging the necessary travel documents and other papers required.”