The number of displaced persons has almost doubled over the last 20 years, reaching a record high of 65.6 million globally in 2016. Some 2.9 million of this number were refugees or asylum seekers (UNHCR, 2017a). The ongoing war in Syria, as well as major displacements resulting from conflict in Iraq, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, led to a large number of persons in need of protection attempting to reach the European Union (EU) between 2014 and 2016. Huge increases in irregular arrivals, mainly at southern and eastern Member States, as well as regular reports of multiple fatalities en route, led to the period becoming referred to by some as the refugee or migrant crisis. Asylum applications made within the EU increased rapidly in the period: in 2015, 1.32 million asylum applications were lodged, representing an increase of 110 per cent on 2014 when 627,000 applications were recorded. A slight decrease (5 per cent) in asylum applications in the EU was seen in 2016 (1.26 million), but this figure is still high when compared to pre-crisis levels (Eurostat, 2017).
This study looks at Ireland’s response to recent trends in international protection applications during the period 2014–2016. In Ireland, like in many other Member States, a number of legislative and policy changes were introduced in those years specifically to address or manage fluctuations in the number of asylum applications, or to better control migration flows. Such policies and practices responded both to the wider EU refugee and migrant crisis, which had limited direct impact on Ireland but which changed the policy context, as well as to national increases and decreases in asylum applications.
The scope of this report is limited to policy, practice and legislation regarding relocation and spontaneously arriving asylum applicants. Due to the fact that resettled refugees are not applicants for international protection, resettlement is excluded from the scope of this study
