• The majority of international protection applicants arrive at Dublin airport, some also arrive via different ports of entry. They are interviewed by an immigration officer on arrival.  
  • Irish law gives the power to arrest someone if they have not made reasonable efforts to establish their identity or if they have destroyed their travel document.
  • They are then directed to the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin where they are registered. This includes being fingerprinted, photographed. Their passport is taken from them, if they have one, and remains in the possession of the IPO during the asylum process. 
  • Their fingerprints are taken and checked on an international database (Eurodac) to establish if they have applied for asylum elsewhere in the EU. They will also be checked against Interpol and Europol databases. They are subject to a preliminary interview which asks questions about identity and nationality. 
  • They are assigned an identity number. If they need accommodation, they are given a designated address at which they must reside. Currently some adult asylum seekers are not being offered accommodation.
  • Since November 2022 new procedures will be introduced in the International Protection Office to accelerate the process for making a protection application in Ireland.  The main purpose of these new regulations is to establish an accelerated process for international protection applicants from safe countries of origin.1 On the day of application, or shortly after, they must complete a detailed questionnaire on arrival, in person at the International Protection Office. They are then subject to a substantive and detailed interview about the details of their protection application claim. The Irish Refugee Council have criticised these changes as they remove, in our opinion, the possibility of practically accessing legal advice before a person completes the questionnaire.
  • Their application is subject to the Dublin III Regulation if they have applied for asylum in another EU country, it can also be deemed inadmissible if the person is deemed to have a sufficient connection to a safe third country such as the United Kingdom.  
  • Irish law states that a person can be excluded from refugee protection if they have committed a serious crime.