Up to 90% of asylum seekers in Ireland may have entered the country via the Northern Ireland land border in the last three years, according to figures. Irish government data reveals that the Common Travel Area (CTA) is being exploited in both directions, but it appears more popular for those seeking asylum in Ireland than in the UK.
Home Office figures
The UK Home Office disclosed that in the past year, it apprehended over 900 'immigration offenders' abusing the open land border. Meanwhile, data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Dublin shows that 18,500 people sought asylum in 2024, with 90% believed to have traveled from Great Britain to Ireland via flight or ferry to Belfast.
Recent knife attack
The CTA has come under renewed scrutiny following a knife attack in Belfast on Monday. The suspect, Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese refugee, has been charged with attempted murder. The attack triggered two nights of violence after it emerged that Alodid had traveled from Sudan to Paris, then Dublin, before taking a bus to Belfast where he claimed asylum in 2023. Police reinforcements were sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland on Thursday.
Asylum trends
Before 2019, the number of asylum seekers in Ireland was relatively small, around 5,000, consistent with a small country on Europe's periphery. That number grew significantly between 2022 and 2024, peaking at 18,500. Only 10% applied at an airport or port, while 90% made a first-time application in person at the International Protection Office in Dublin. This figure includes some who may have entered legally and sought asylum later. In 2025 and 2026 to date, the proportions of in-person applicants were 88% and 90% respectively.
Border checks
Without physical checks on the Irish border, neither the UK nor Irish governments can verify precise numbers crossing illegally. However, in 2024, Ireland's then justice minister, Helen McEntee, stated that 80% were coming over the land border. Last year, DFAT said its assessment, based on staff experience and interview material, indicated that a significant proportion of first-time applicants had entered over the land border.
Government response
The Irish government expressed deep concern over the Belfast violence and is working closely with the British government on CTA abuses. It also expects to revive a post-Brexit returns agreement that has so far seen only one asylum seeker returned to Ireland from the UK. The deal, agreed in 2020, was delayed after Ireland's high court ruled that the UK's policy on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda meant it was not a legally defined 'safe country'. DFAT said arrangements for re-operationalising the agreement, following the redesignation of the UK as a safe third country, will be put in place in consultation with the UK.
Political reactions
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn spoke to Ireland's Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan and Foreign Minister Helen McEntee. The Irish ministers also coordinated with their Stormont counterparts. A call between Benn, O'Callaghan, and Northern Ireland's Justice Minister Naomi Long discussed the importance of cross-border cooperation in protecting the CTA. Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said there were questions about immigration policy and checks in Dublin. Critics have called the CTA a 'back door to Britain', and DUP leader Gavin Robinson has called for the border to be closed.
Expert analysis
Katy Hayward, a professor at Queen's University Belfast, noted that border issues are contentious in Northern Ireland but have taken on a dangerous intensity post-Brexit. Unionist leaders face the challenge of showing empathy with furious sentiment while working within institutions to manage it. Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the CTA is positive but must be constantly managed as people will try to abuse it.
