DUBLIN is now one of the main destinations offered by an international network of gangs trafficking in people.
There is growing concern in official circles in the Republic at the influx of "refugees", often from other EU countries, who are paying the gangs to arrange their passports and transport, and to advise them about claiming welfare benefits in the Republic.
"The word is out," one Garda source said. "Ireland is the place to come".
The Internet is considered partly to blame for the sudden surge in interest in Ireland. The trafficking gangs have been trawling the Web, searching for details of the welfare benefits offered in each state.
An official source said the gangs have discovered the handful of pages about Ireland, posted on the Internet by Amnesty International, which contain information intended for genuine refugees fleeing persecution abroad. The pages explain:
"On arrival, all asylum seekers are entitled to emergency accommodation in the Red Cross Hostel, youth hostels, temporary flats, bed and breakfast, or sometimes hostels for homeless people.
"Asylum seekers without income are entitled to Supplementary Welfare Allowance, Rent Deposit and Allowance, Fuel Allowance, and discretionary Exceptional Needs Payments, such as Clothing Allowance, at the same levels of Irish people receiving welfare benefits.
"Asylum seekers who are parents are entitled to claim Child Benefit for all children under 16, and those between 16 and 18 in full time education."
The Department of Social Welfare also details benefits on the Internet.
While immigration officers at airports can turn refugees away, putting them on a flight out of the State, there are no such controls at ports. Most of the refugees are landing at Dublin Port and Dun Laoghaire.
The level of smuggling of people into the Republic is considered low, although many refugees have claimed to have entered the State that way.
"They will say they were brought in in the back of a truck, but that is only because they don't want to admit they have come from England or another EU country," a Garda source said. "They know the rules are that they can be sent back to London or Paris or wherever they have come from, so a lot of them claim to have been put into a truck in Romania or Zaire or wherever, and next thing they knew they were at Holyhead.
Ten days ago police at two French ports intercepted 34 Romanians carrying stolen passports as they attempted to board ferries for Ireland. The French police said the illegal immigrants travelled with the help of an international network. Their final destination was Dublin.
Six couples with 17 children were stopped at Roscoff in Brittany, as they were about to board a ferry for Cork. A French official said the Romanians were travelling with Spanish passports, bought in Madrid for 15,000 pesetas (£70) each. The six families, believed to have been living in Spain for some time, told the French authorities they were on their way to Ireland for a holiday.
A second group of Romanians was stopped at Cherbourg, where three women were found to be carrying Italian passports, stolen from an Italian woman in London. An immigration officer based in Cherbourg said the women, with one child, were connected to the group found at Roscoff.
The evidence that the influx of refugees to the Republic is organised by gangs promising to arrange travel to a better life in Ireland in return for a fee has raised fears in official circles that the flow will continue or even increase.
There are fears that in some parts of Dublin traditional Irish hospitality will fade into the background as the numbers of refugees grows.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that not all the refugees have proved law abiding. A number have been arrested in Dublin for shoplifting and some minor public order offences, "mostly involving fights among themselves", according to one garda.