Numbers of asylum seekers crossing border 'not fact'

The Tánaiste says the Justice Minister's claim that 80 per cent of asylum seekers are arriving here across the border from the north, is not based in fact.

However Micheál Martin says there has been a definite shift by asylum seekers away from arriving here through ports and airports. But the Foreign Affairs Minister says Helen McEntee was just expressing a 'perspective' on the changing numbers: "There has been a shift," Micheál Martin said, "If you remember all the earlier commentary was about all the people arriving on planes without documentation and so on. That has lessened somewhat and there's been a switch in terms of the pattern of migration. That's the sense from our justice officials."