Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers have reached the UK having first registered in a Council of Europe country in each of the last five years; of those asylum seekers, how many first registered in Ireland; and from where did the asylum seekers who first registered in Ireland originally travel.

The Home Office does not hold data on asylum seekers who have previously registered in a Council of Europe Country. However, data is available through the Eurodac system for asylum seekers who have previously made an asylum claim in EU+ (EU, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Switzerland) countries and then made a further claim in UK. This data is only available for the period prior to the UK leaving the EU and the Eurodac system. The relevant available data has been extracted and presented in the table below. It is subject to the same caveats as the Eurodac system from which it is derived. As such, it is a count of Eurodac ‘hits’, not individuals or claims. For example, an individual applying once in the UK, who has previously applied once each in Germany, France and Italy, would produce 3 hits, one for each prior application. Data on where journeys began is unfortunately unavailable.

Note: Category 1 data against category 1 data only

The United Kingdom and Ireland have a regular dialogue relating to the operation of the Common Travel Area where issues such as border security risks and shared immigration challenges are discussed.

Those who fear persecution should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – this is the fastest route to safety. Ireland is a safe country and, as such, it would not be appropriate for individuals to travel to the UK from Ireland to claim asylum.

The Government has previously raised with Ireland concerns about individuals exploiting the Common Travel Area generally to reach the United Kingdom to seek asylum, most recently in May of this year.