Migration was the one of the biggest issues this election period, to a degree that has never been seen in previous elections.
The big three mainstream parties reference new immigration systems in their manifestos.
Fine Gael
Fine Gael’s manifesto has promised “[D]esignated accommodation with restricted freedom of movement” for prospective asylum seekers.
The manifesto reiterates plans to place “limits” on “movement” and that asylum seekers will “have removal decisions completed within 90 days”.
How Fine Gael intends to enforce the restrictions on the movement of asylum seekers is not detailed in the manifesto.
The manifesto also details: “Asylum seekers will be required to contribute towards their accommodation costs, promoting personal responsibility”.
According to the Irish International Protection Office, the largest percentage of international protection applications made in 2024 was by Nigerians. The average Nigerian salary is 1,826 euro per annum, according to Salarymonitor.org.
Simon Harris was recently quoted as saying that the state must take a “compassionate but common sense” approach to asylum seekers.
In Fine Gael’s 2020 manifesto, there was no mention of immigration.
Fianna Fáil
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil’s manifesto states that they will “charter deportation flights when necessary”.
The party also promises to: “Establish a dedicated division of the High Court: A specialised division will be created to handle all immigration cases, ensuring timely legal proceedings”.
Fianna Fáil’s 2020 manifesto did not mention immigration in any capacity.
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin’s manifesto promises action on: “Returning immigrants who are not entitled to be here to their countries of origin including enforcement of deportation and other orders and investigating illegal immigration”.
How exactly deportation will be enforced is not described.
Sinn Féin did mention immigration policy in their 2020 manifesto, stating: “Sinn Féin does not want open borders”. However, the word count took up less than a page, in comparison to the three pages dedicated to immigration in their current manifesto.
Green Party
In the Green’s Programme for Government manifesto in 2020, the party committed to ending Direct Provision, a promise which has yet to be implemented. Direct Provision is the system where asylum seekers waiting for their international protection applications to be processed are housed and provided with basic necessities.
Amnesty International Ireland’s website states “For more than 21 years, Ireland’s Direct Provision system has been a human rights scandal”.
Deportations currently in practice
Berkeley solicitors, a law firm that specialises in immigration law, states that “A person issued with a valid deportation order may be directed by an immigration officer to attend their local immigration office at specified times. It is a criminal offence to contravene the provisions of a Deportation Order, and in this circumstance a person may become liable for arrest and detention for the purposes of deportation.”
At the end of 2023, 117.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The Irish Refugee Council lobbied various government party’s manifestos to “End punitive measures aimed at people seeking protection, including those without documentation. Ensure adequate safeguards that ensure anyone who wishes to apply for protection is afforded the right to do so”.
The organisation believes that those without documentation are entitled to seek asylum.
According to the Irish Refugee Council, 13,276 protection applications were lodged in 2023.
The European Union as a whole received 1,100,000 applications for international protection. Ireland received 1.2% of the total applications made to the European Union to seek international protection.
Ireland as a whole, makes up approximately 1.1% of the European Union’s total population, and has the second highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the EU.
104,870 asylum seekers from Ukraine received temporary protection in Ireland between March 2022 and February 2024, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has recorded that 6.8 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded globally.
