Almost 2,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Ireland in the first four months of this year arrived with either false or no travel documents.
The figures have been released by the Department of Justice via a freedom of information request.
Between January and April this year 1,465 asylum seekers arrived at Dublin Airport with no travel documents, which means they likely destroyed their passport on their flight to Ireland.
354 international protection applicants arrived with false travel documents during the same period.
That means 38% of asylum seekers who arrived in the first four months of this year either destroyed their travel documents or had fake documents.
Although the figure may be even higher because the Department of Justice say they have no way of tracking how many international protection applicants come to Ireland via Belfast.
