A senior official at the Department of Justice warned Ireland’s asylum system could not absorb even 1% of the predicted one million refugees fleeing from Ukraine if they applied for asylum here.
In internal discussions, the senior civil servant also cautioned of the risk of removing short stay visa requirements for Ukrainians saying it could incentivise fraudulent applications.
Concerns were also raised about a possible visa waiver programme for family members of Ukrainian nationals already in Ireland.
Read More: First Ukrainian refugees arrive at Gormanston military camp
It said checks would have to be carried out by airlines and would “likely not be completed at all” because they would be too complex.
The Department’s Chief International Protection Officer David Delaney told senior management there was no “perfect fit” and that the unknown number of refugees planning to come was the most “significant variable”.
In an email, he wrote: “If even 1% of 1 million displaced people claim asylum in Ireland, that would equate to 10,000 individuals – which the International Protection Office (IPO) and International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) cannot absorb.”
Four options were put forward as the department made plans in February for how to deal with an inevitable influx of refugees fleeing war in Ukraine.
The first was to remove all visa requirements for new arrivals with the potential to leave the system open to a “significant influx”.
It said after three months, these new arrivals would have to regularise their status in Ireland with significant consequences if a large number applied for asylum.
An option to remove short stay visa requirements but retain long stay requirements was deemed problematic because it would “incentivise” people to fraudulently seek short stay visas.
An email said: “This option would, ironically, block the cohort that we wish to allow into the State – Ukrainian family members of Irish/EU citizens, as they should apply for a long stay visa to come to Ireland.”
A third option for a visa waiver programme for Ukrainian nationals with family already here was also considered especially problematic.
The discussion document said: “The application and definition of rules [and] procedures could be very challenging in this solution. What category of family member? What proofs are required? What constitutes long term lawfully resident?”
The email said consultation would be needed with the Department of Transport about what would be required by airlines with a risk of rules being so complex they were “not … implementable at boarding”.
A fourth option to retain visa requirement but with relaxed rules on what proofs were required was seen as reneging on commitments by the Taoiseach that Ireland would do all it could to help fleeing refugees.
The email said: “I would fear [it] would lead to a situation whereby it would appear we are rolling back on previous national commitments.”
In response to the document, the department’s Deputy Secretary General Oonagh Buckley said they would need to agree on “the least worst [option] from a law, policy, and practical perspective”.
She said an option to remove short term visa requirements could lead to a large number of Ukrainians in the country “with no connection to the country who would inevitably end up in the asylum system or undocumented”.
Ms Buckley said that the first three options would each require new legislation to implement.
On the fourth plan to retain visa requirements with a reduced standard of proof, she said it may be a “bit more flexible” but posed other practical problems.
She wrote: “However, it is not in line with the public pronouncements about dropping visa requirements for Ukrainians.”
A statement from the Department of Justice said: “Ireland’s response to the Ukrainian crisis is part of an EU-wide response and is in-keeping with our obligations as a Member State.
“Since the Minister lifted visa requirements for those entering Ireland from Ukraine on February 25 as a humanitarian response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some 41,103 people have arrived in Ireland seeking temporary protection.”
The Department of Justice had originally failed to release any of the records, and they were only disclosed following an appeal to the Information Commissioner.
The number of border crossings from Ukraine has surpassed 9.5 million for the first time since Russia invaded the country, the UN Refugee Agency reported on Wednesday.
A total of 9,547,969 border crossings from Ukraine have been recorded since Feb 24, the agency’s tally showed on Wednesday.
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