863. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of persons detected entering or attempting to enter the State without a passport or other valid identity or travel documentation in each of the past 12 months, broken down by location, nationality and stated route of entry; and he will make a statement on the matter. [64776/26]

869. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the standard procedure followed when a person enters or is found in the State without verifiable identity or travel documentation; the measures used to establish their identity, nationality and travel route; the use of fingerprints, photographs and national or international databases; the circumstances in which detention may be considered; and the consequences where a person is suspected of deliberately destroying, concealing or disposing of documents [64780/26]

870. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of undocumented persons detected entering or attempting to enter the State in each of the past 12-months who were refused leave to land, returned to their point of departure, issued with a deportation order, or removed from the State, broken down by month, nationality and category of action taken. [64779/26]

871. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration of those detected entering or attempting to enter the State unlawfully in each of the past 12-months, the number who subsequently applied for international protection, broken down by month, nationality and location of detection; and the number transferred into the international protection process. [64778/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 863 and 869 to 871, inclusive, together.

Implementing effective border security arrangements is a priority for me as Minister.

Establishing a person's identity and nationality is an important feature of our immigration process. At ports of entry, Immigration Officials conduct passport checks and undertake operations, as required, to ensure that passengers arriving in the State are properly documented in accordance with Section 11 of the Immigration Act 2004.

Where a non-EEA national presents at a port of entry without documentation, or is identified as having false or fraudulently obtained documents, they may be refused entry to the State.

Section 4(3) of the Immigration Act 2004 sets out the full range of grounds on which a person may be refused leave to land. When a person is refused leave to land, an Immigration Officer will arrange for their removal from the State in accordance with the relevant legislation. The priority is to return the person on the next available flight to their last point of embarkation.

Any person refused leave to land at the border and returned to their point of embarkation would not generally become subject to the deportation process. Deportation orders are a separate immigration enforcement measure that applies to persons who are present in the State and are required to leave in accordance with the law.

If a person indicates, or is identified as being, in need of international protection, they are admitted to the international protection process. I can advise the Deputy that the EU Migration and Asylum Pact introduces mandatory processing timeframes for international protection applications. Ireland, along with other Member States, is required to process certain applications within three months under an accelerated procedure. This will apply, amongst others, to people who have misled the authorities, for example by destroying identity documents.

The International Protection Act 2026 gives effect to the EU Migration and Asylum Pact and came into operation on 12 June 2026, the same day as the Pact measures came into effect. Under the International Protection Act 2026, any person who arrives at a port, airport or international protection application office and applies for international protection is required to attend a designated screening centre and will be registered on the Eurodac system.

The new Eurodac Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1358) expands the data collection requirement to individuals aged six years and older. It broadens data collection beyond fingerprints to include facial images and travel documents.

My Department and the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) are also working closely with airlines on a range of measures to ensure that passengers have the necessary documentation when boarding. This includes delivering in-person training to relevant airline ground-handling staff on immigration requirements and the detection of false travel documentation. Following the delivery of this training, the BMU continues to provide support to ensure compliance with immigration requirements and to strengthen capability in detecting false documents and other indicators of irregular migration.

The BMU and GNIB have an ongoing intelligence-led programme of operations on aircraft to detect passengers who have destroyed documents in flight and to identify the point of embarkation of undocumented passengers. Up to the end of August 2026, the BMU had carried out 4,090 doorstop operations at Dublin Airport.

The BMU is responsible for frontline immigration operations at Dublin Airport only. Accordingly, the figures set out below reflect the position at Dublin Airport. Other airports and ports of entry are the responsibility of An Garda Síochána.

In recent years, the number of people arriving at Dublin Airport without documentation has reduced. Both 2025 and 2024 saw a reduction of more than 50% in the number of people arriving at Dublin Airport without documentation compared with 2022. 2022 was a peak year with almost 5,000 people refused entry on this basis.

The table below outlines the number of people who were refused entry at Dublin Airport, the number who presented without documentation or with false documents, and, separately, the number who indicated that the wished to apply for international protection. A breakdown by nationality is not available at this time.

Arising from the enactment of the International Protection Act 2026, the BMU no longer provides statistics on persons indicating that they wish to apply for international protection at the point of entry.

Table 1:

* Please note, figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing