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Updated: 12:48, Saturday, 3 January 2004
The Department of Justice has confirmed that the number of applications for asylum in 2003 dropped by over a third.
There were almost 8,000 applications for asylum last year, representing a drop of 32%.
The year before, there had been over 11,000 applications.
It is believed one of the reasons behind this year's decline was last January's Supreme Court ruling that the parents of Irish born children were not automatically entitled to residency.
Increased detection of illegal immigrants and a higher level of deportation are also thought to have had an impact.
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