The number of new asylum seekers applying for international protection in Ireland last year rose by 30% to 4,740 – an increase of almost 1,100.
European Commission figures show the rate of growth here was two-and-a-half times the EU average of 12%.
However, Ireland still only accounted for 0.8% of all new asylum seekers in Europe in 2019.
The figures include individuals who were first-time
applicants for either refugee or subsidiary protection status.
They also include applicants who may have previously sought international protection in another EU member state.
Albania represented the main country of origin of asylum seekers here last year accounting for 970 (20%) of the total followed by Georgia with 635 (13%) and Zimbabwe with 445 (9%).
The figures also show the number of new refugees who registered in Ireland in 2019 is still relatively small in proportion to the population.
It represented 967 applicants per million population – below the EU average of 1,371 per million inhabitants.
The figures ranked Ireland in 11th place of the 27 EU member states in absolute numbers of asylum seekers arriving last year and 13th on a per capita basis.
The upward trend in numbers of refugees arriving here was mirrored across Europe where the overall number of first-time applicants rose by 12% to 612,700.
However, last year’s figure is only around half the total of the peak reached in 2015 when more than 1.2 million people applied for international protection at the height of the war in Syria.
Numbers are likely to fall in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic as the European Council announced last week it was imposing travel restrictions at the EU’s external borders for a period of 30 days.
Almost one in four of all new asylum applicants to EU member states in 2019 were registered in Germany – 142,400 or 23%.
However, it still represented a slowdown with approximately 19,000 fewer seeking asylum there than in the previous 12-month period.
Germany was followed by France with 119,900 (20%) and Spain with 115,200 (19%).
