Airlines and ferry companies that allow someone to board or disembark without proper documentation face higher fines from today.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has signed an order to increase the maximum fines from €3,000 to €5,000.
It is understood to be a way of preventing the practice whereby some people destroy or dispose of travel documents as part of efforts to claim asylum.
Concerns have previously been raised in the Dáil about how the State deals with passengers who arrive without travel documents.
In January, then Clare TD Michael McNamara, who is now an MEP for Ireland South, questioned how 3,285 people could land at Dublin Airport in 2023 without a passport and without being prosecuted.
Ms McEntee said: "There is a legal obligation on our airlines and on our ferries to make sure that any individual that boards our planes or boats that they have the correct and proper documentation where that doesn't occur, we need to make sure that there are very clear penalties and fines."
The minister said she is "introducing an increase in fine from €3,000 to €5,000".
"This is part of a suite of actions that I've taken over the last number of years to make sure that we have an immigration system that's firm but fair," she said.
Asked if it was fair to hold airlines responsible where a person might destroy or dispose of their documents, Minister McEntee said: "There is a legal responsibility for the airline to make sure that where a person boards the plane but also gets off the plane or gets off the fairway that they have the correct documentation."
She said that work was ongoing to help the airlines too, in terms of training airport staff to make sure they can spot the signs and prevent people from getting on board with incorrect documentation.
There has also been an increase in so-called doorstep operations in which people are stopped and asked for their documents immediately upon disembarking a flight.
The minister said there had been around 3,700 of these operations recently.
"But this is a very clear legal obligation that is placed on the airlines, on the ferries to make sure that when people are boarding or when they're disembarking, that they have the correct documentation that they're supposed to have with them when they're coming to Ireland," she said.
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Regarding the number of fines collected, Minister McEntee said there had been "a slight increase in the number of fines".
She said there had been a significant decrease - of about 30 - 40% - in the number of people coming to Ireland with either false documents or trying to get rid or discard their documents before they land.
"So clearly, that engagement and that training ... with the fines that are already being applied is working," she said.
