Jim O'Callaghan

Well, listen, all I look at is what's there at present.

I'm not going to comment on the situation that predecessors found themselves in.

And obviously, if you look around Europe today,

particularly at present.

Migration is a huge issue in the 21st century.

When the history of the 21st century is going to be written, migration is going to be a hugely significant story.

And you can look to see what happened in 2015, 2016 in Germany.

And obviously, Ireland had low numbers of people coming, claiming asylum prior to COVID.

It was around 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 a year.

But then after COVID, it took off significantly.

In 2024, it was 18,500 people came in.

Last year, it got it down to 13,000.

And like, I don't make any apologies about saying it.

I want to reduce the number of people coming to Ireland claiming asylum.

And the reason I want to do that is because of data.

Because the data tells me, for instance, this year, 5,500 people have had their asylum applications adjudicated.

83% have been rejected.

And even when you take into account appeals, the appeal rate allows around 30%.

So the very, very significant majority of people coming to Ireland claiming asylum are not entitled to asylum.

They're entitled to claim asylum, but ultimately we can see that they don't get asylum.