Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has defended government plans to pay families seeking asylum up to €10,000 to withdraw their claims and leave Ireland, insisting the measure will save the state money.
The government is proposing to increase existing voluntary return allowances from €1,200 for individuals and €2,000 for couples or families to €2,500 for individuals and up to €10,000 for families who abandon their asylum applications and return home.
“What I’m doing is I’m saving the state money,” O’Callaghan told reporters, stating that processing an international protection application costs an average of €122,000, while annual accommodation costs €30,000 per applicant. “So, it makes sense to provide an incentive for them to leave the country at an earlier stage.”
The minister described the increase as “slight” and aligned with payments offered in other EU countries and the UK, noting Ireland’s proposed amounts remain below UK and Danish levels. He said the objective is to encourage people to recognize early when their applications are unlikely to succeed, freeing resources for other purposes.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe supported the plan over the weekend, describing it as delivering on “clear” migration rules. O’Callaghan confirmed the increased payments would come from his existing departmental budget.
However, the Irish Refugee Council has strongly criticized the proposal. Chief Executive Nick Henderson told RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland that his organization is “very concerned about anything that tries to coax or lure somebody to drop their application for asylum.”
Henderson described the enhanced payments as “inappropriate” interference in asylum seekers’ decision-making processes. He emphasized that international protection decisions determine whether people face persecution if returned home, making it critical that applicants receive proper decisions rather than being incentivized to withdraw claims prematurely.
The government will not offer enhanced payments to those awaiting appeal decisions, though Henderson remained concerned about the measure’s impact on protection claims more broadly.
O’Callaghan stated he wants annual asylum applications to drop below 10,000, noting that this year the state will spend €1.2 billion on accommodation for international protection applicants. His department is working to expedite processing times to reduce lengthy accommodation periods.
The minister emphasized consequences for unsuccessful applicants: “If people think there isn’t going to be a consequence, if you fail in your application, well then they will just continue to stay, so it’s important that we give effect to deportations. If you fail in your application to asylum, you must leave the country. If you don’t do it voluntarily, we will engage in enforced deportations.”
The proposal represents a significant increase in financial incentives for voluntary returns and comes amid broader government efforts to manage migration pressures and accommodation costs within the international protection system.