Nearly 550 Brazilians refused entry so far this year

The number of Brazilian nationals refused permission to enter the State at ports and airports has doubled since the start of the year following a major new clampdown by gardaí on illegal immigration between Ireland the UK, The Irish Times has learned.

Gardaí believe very large numbers of Brazilians were coming to Ireland on the pretence of holidaying here.

However, once they had entered the State many were taking advantage of more relaxed immigration controls between the Republic and the UK, because of the common travel area, and were travelling to Britain for the purpose of illegally settling there.

Gardaí became aware of the abuse last year and have begun a major drive to discourage it.

The visas and travel plans of Brazilians entering the Republic by sea, air and via the Border with the North have been much more closely checked by immigration officials in recent months.

The clampdown has resulted in a very significant increase in the number of Brazilians being refused permission to enter the Republic, according to Garda figures obtained by The Irish Times.

In the six months to the end of June, 547 Brazilians were refused permission to land. This compares with 605 for all of last year and 491 for 2004.

Of those refused this year, the vast majority, 506, had tried to enter the country through airports. These were held at the airports before being sent back to the countries from which they had travelled on the next available flight.

Sixteen were detected trying to cross the Border from the North and 25 had tried to enter the State by sea.

"A lot of them would believe that it was easier to get past immigration in Ireland compared with the UK," said one Garda source. "Once they are here they think it's fairly easy to get to the UK, so they take their chances."

The full list of refusal figures reveals that the numbers of foreign nationals being refused entry has increased by about 13 per cent this year.

The total number of all foreign nationals being refused permission to land had reached 2,704 by June 30th. This compares with 4,813 for all of last year and 4,844 in 2004. The figures for the last 2½ years include citizens of 166 countries.

Foreign nationals are turned away from Ireland for a variety of reasons. In many cases their visas are not in order. It is also often discovered that they are travelling on false passports.

The authorities can also conclude that they are entering the State with the intention of using Ireland as a transit country to illegally travel elsewhere or that their claims of coming to Ireland to holiday are false.

Brazilians account for by far the biggest single group of foreign nationals currently being refused.

These are followed by Romanian nationals, more of whom are still being refused than ever following a significant increase in refusals last year. Some 298 were turned away to the end of June, compared with 549 last year and 320 in 2004.

While Nigerians are third on the list of refusals their numbers have fallen off greatly, with immigration from there having apparently peaked. Some 197 Nigerians were refused to the end of June compared with 466 last year and 505 on 2004.

Fourth on the list are Chinese nationals, with 137 refused to the end of June compared with 316 last year and 206 in 2004.

The fifth most represented group are Malaysians who, like Brazilians, are being refused entry in much bigger numbers than ever before.

Some 133 had been refused permission to enter the State to the end of June. This compared with 116 for all of last year and 78 in 2004. Gardaí believe many Malaysians who were stopped this year were intent on using Ireland as a transit country to Britain.