JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has hit out at the "rubbish" stories asylum seekers come up with to get into Ireland.

He gave examples for motivation to enter such as that of a first cousin of the applicant having been involved in a coup 20 years previously, or an asylum seeker having been selected by a cult for ritual sacrifice - or that they themselves had been asked to perform a ritual sacrifice. Mr McDowell said: "They don't know how they get to Ireland because there are no direct flights, and they can't explain". "Cock-and-bull" and "far-fetched nonsense" were being given by people seeking asylum in Ireland, he said.

Speaking at a Dail Committee on Justice, Defence, Equality and Women's Rights, Mr McDowell also said there was too much "political correctness".

He said the patience of Irish people would be very much tested if they knew the stories being told by people looking for asylum. He said he would like to interview asylum seekers at the airport. "I would like to interview these people at the airport, but the UN insists that I go through due procedure. As soon as we go through due process and the gardai arrive, they lift the phone and call a lawyer, who gets them a judicial review to get them taken off the plane," the minister said. He criticised the large amount of "manifestly bogus" political correctness in Ireland. "There's a lot of political correctness that goes on here and it is manifestly bogus, far-fetched nonsense and it's about time we said it," he noted.

If people arrive in Ireland with their children and are not entitled to asylum, they and their children will be going home within 10-12 weeks, he added.

Services for asylum seekers cost a large sum, he said, adding he had never seen anybody involved in the NGO sector admitting there was a major problem with bogus asylum applications.