Eight Kurds found in Rosslare container will seek asylum

Immigrant council urges action as Ireland has taken in only 30 per cent of refugee target

Eight Kurdish asylum seekers discovered on a ferry that arrived at Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford on Thursday are currently being housed in Dublin.

The eight people including two children, received medical assistance but are understood to be doing well.

Gardaí said all eight have arrived in Dublin where they will be housed until they can apply for asylum.

It’s understood the eight will now be allowed to make an application for asylum over the coming days. They will then be referred to a refugee programme.

READ SOME MORE

They were found inside a container on a Stena Line Ferry coming from Cherbourg in France.

“Most recent figures for international migration have shown that more than 111,000 people crossed the Mediterranean this year and 2,500 people lost their lives including men, women and children. That’s the equivalent of five or six 747s plunging into the Mediterranean so far this year.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland told RTÉ's Morning Ireland the people discovered on board the lorry on Thursday evening should be allowed to stay in Ireland.

“It’s a massive loss of life and what the EU is still doing at a grindingly slow pace is focusing on pushing people back on deterrents and breaking up routes rather than finding legal routes for people to migrate. We can’t call this a crisis anymore this is a reality.”

Earlier this year, authorities at Rosslare Europort discovered 14 people hidden in the back of a truck that arrived from France in April.

The 12 males and two females were discovered by Garda Immigration Officers after the Irish Ferries Oscar Wilde docked.

All 14 people, including one juvenile, were found inside a refrigerated trailer unit but were not harmed.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland have said that cases like this have become all too familiar and that more efforts are needed by the State to manage the crisis.

The council said Ireland has only taken about 30 per cent of the 4,000 refugees which Ireland pledged to take in.