Ireland needs an efficient and effective system in dealing with applicants seeking international protection, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said.
Mr O’Callaghan said there were 32,000 people currently in international protection accommodation and that the "other end of the equation" had to be looked at to try to have measures in place that can try to reduce the applicants coming to the State.
He said the numbers "keep growing" and it is not tenable to keep getting more accommodation.
Mr O'Callaghan was speaking at a ceremony in Dublin which will see more than 5,000 people become new Irish citizens.
Applicants from over 130 countries will be conferred with citizenship today and tomorrow.
The minister said securing Irish citizenship is not "an easy passage through" and he does not think it’s "too easy".
"You've got to do a lot more than simply just arrive in here. You've got to show your commitment to the State.
"You've got to have a connection here for a considerable period of time. You've got, to swear an oath of fidelity and loyalty to the State," Mr O’Callaghan said.
"I don't think we make it too easy in this country … you have to do a very active vetting programme in respect of persons who wish to become citizens," he added.
Mr O’Callaghan also said people who have been refused international protection should leave the country and said they should be subjected to a deportation order.
He said he expects more such orders to be issued this year.
"No country can adopt a relaxed or casual attitude to its borders or to migration. It's a security issue as well as being a rights issue," he said.
He also said Ireland would not be prepared to breach international law in taking in any refugees from Gaza.
Mr O’Callaghan said some of the proposals that had been advanced recently, forcibly moving people from their homeland, would be a breach and said Ireland would not be facilitating that.
