Fianna Fail’s candidate in the European elections has harshly criticised his party colleague running in the same constituency who called for random checks on illegal immigrants at the border with Northern Ireland, The Irish Times reports.
Donegal Senator Niall Blaney said his comments were “ill-judged” and that he was extremely “outraged” that the Dáil MP had suggested that, following the Belfast Agreement, “this in only a problem on one side of the Border”.
Senator Blaney and Mr. Cowan are both candidates for Fianna Fail in the Midlands-North West constituency. Mayo senator Lisa Chambers is also a candidate.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr. Cowan called for random checks at the border, faster decisions on adding more safe countries of origin and more deportations. He also said there should be random gardaí checks at the border to identify illegal immigrants:”if there is a fear of being caught, the numbers will decrease.”
In a statement on Friday morning, Mr. Blaney said people on the island of Ireland everywhere were frustrated about the issue. He said focusing on the North-South border was “not the way to go”. He said:
We have fought long and hard to get rid of Border controls on this island. This is a European problem and one that we should seek to handle in that wider context … The continuous talk about tents in Dublin is only a small part of our migrant issues. Everything does not revolve around Dublin.
Mr. Cowan said on Friday that Mr. Blaney’s response was taken out of context and that the Donegal senator was “on the wrong side of the stick”. He said Garda special immigration officers were authorised to carry out spot checks not just at the border but across the country, but the unit was under-resourced. He also emphasised that he had not emphasised the border in his comments.
