MOSCOW, April 13 (Sputnik) – Ireland received 129 percent more asylum seeker applications in January-February 2015 than in the same period last year, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said Monday.
Some 416 applications were received for the first two months of the year, comparing to 181 during the equivalent period of time in 2014, according to the minister.
"In that regard, it should be noted that there were 1,448 applications for asylum in 2014, which represents an increase of 53pc on the previous year,” Fitzgerald said as cited by Ireland’s newspaper Herald.
The number of refugees from North Africa seeking asylum in Europe rose dramatically in the past two years amid conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, according to Ireland’s Justice Ministry.
Ireland is one of two European countries that deny asylum seekers the right to work. Thus refugees may only claim unemployment benefits.
