Ireland has received applications from some 855 asylum seekers in the second quarter of 2015 and majority of them are from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Albania.Of the 855 people who desired to land in Ireland between April and June, 440 are from Pakistan, 90 from Bangladesh and 55 from Albania, international media quoting Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission reported on Friday.During the second quarter of 2015 (from April to June 2015), 213 200 first-time asylum seekers applied for protection in the European Union (EU), up by 15 percent compared to the first quarter of 2015 and by 85 percent compared to the second quarter of 2014, according to Eurostat.Particularly, the number of Syrians and Afghans rose considerably to reach almost 44,000 and 27,000 respectively.They represent the two main citizenships of first-time asylum applicants in the EU over the second quarter 2015, accounting for a third of all the first-time applicants.Kosovars, who were the top citizenship of first-time asylum applicants in the first three months of 2015, have seen their number drop from almost 50 000 during the first quarter 2015 to just over 10 000 in the second quarter 2015.Some 855 first-time asylum seekers applied for protection in Ireland between April and June 2015, bringing to 1,480 the total number of people to seek asylum in Ireland in the first six months of 2015, said the Irish Times.Data released by Eurostat on Friday showed over 210,000 first-time asylum seekers arrived in the EU between April and June 2015, representing an increase of 15 percent on the first three months of the year and a jump of 85 percent compared to the same period last year.Most of the refugees and migrants to arrive in the EU were Syrian and Afghan, almost 44,000 and 27,000 respectively, and more than one in three were seeking asylum in Germany.The number of asylum seekers to arrive in Ireland between April and June made up just 0.4 per cent of the total number of refugees and migrants to arrive in the EU during the same time period.According to Eurostat, most asylum seekers to arrive in the EU in the first three months of 2015 were from Kosovo, with 50,000 arriving in member states. This number subsequently dropped to 10,000 in the second quarter of the year.Of the 213,200 people to seek asylum in Europe between April and July, 38 percent were registered in Germany, 15 percent in Hungary, 8 percent in Austria and 7 percent in Italy.Albanians represented 8 percent of the total number of first-time applicants for asylum, with almost 90 percent applying in Germany.By the end of June 2015, about 592,000 asylum applications across the EU were still under consideration. This represents a noticeable jump from the same time last year, when nearly 365,000 applications were pending.The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that time is running out for European leaders to resolve the refugee crisis, saying the chaos and confusion on Hungarian borders was being caused by the absence of a coherent and united response.More than 442,440 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean so far this year, while some 2,921 people have died making the journey. According to the UNHCR, 4,000 people are arriving on the Greek islands every day.The UNHCR warned that the European Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting scheduled for September 22nd and the European Council meeting on September 23rd could be the last opportunity for a “positive, united and coherent” European response to the crisis.
