A CROSS-BORDER police crackdown on asylum abuses saved nearly ¤4m in social welfare payments last year and detected almost 900 illegal immigrants, according to government figures, writes Stephen O’Brien.

Operation Gull, a police campaign in the republic, Northern Ireland and Britain, has detected further abuses of the republic’s social welfare system by bogus asylum seekers totalling ¤850,000 in the first three months of this year.

Gull — a joint effort by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) and the social welfare department with the PSNI and the UK Border Agency — has saved more than ¤13.5m in its four years of operation.

Department of Justice officials say systematic abuses have been uncovered. Some people refused visas for the republic were using British entry visas instead and trying to enter via Northern Ireland.

Others intent on entering Britain had travelled to the republic on holiday visas and crossed by ferry to Britain via Northern Ireland. There were cases of failed asylum seekers in Britain travelling through the north to make a fresh asylum application under a different identity in the republic, and others were making asylum applications in both jurisdictions under different names.

Critics say immigration officials are acting in a heavy-handed and racist way, systematically questioning black people entering Northern Ireland.

The UK Border Agency says it is detecting between 800 and 900 illegal immigrants a year through Gull. The British and Irish governments are believed to be considering stepping up checks at Dublin and Belfast airports.

Asylum applications in the republic fell below 4,000 last year for the first time in a decade. From a high of 11,634 in 2002, the number of applications fell to 3,985 last year.

There is a failure rate of about 90% in asylum applications. Nigeria is the largest contributor of those seeking refugee status, accounting for 96% of fast-tracked cases last year.

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