UK and Irish ministers will meet in London on Monday amid a growing scandal over migrants travelling from Britain to Ireland.
Recent figures show that due to changing migration trends, more than 80 per cent of people claiming asylum in Ireland are coming from across the land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the increase in applications showed that Rwanda’s plan to send asylum seekers to the East African country to deter others from crossing the Channel was working.
Irish authorities want to send asylum seekers back to the UK under emergency legislation. However, 10 Downing Street has rejected any offer by Ireland to do so unless France agrees to do the same.
Britain’s Work and Pensions Minister Mel Stride on Monday said:
We are already seeing the early signs of the deterrent effect, which the whole purpose of the Rwanda bill and Rwanda approach is about. What we are seeing in this case is people leaving the UK and going to the Republic of Ireland. Now there will clearly be discussions between our government and theirs. I very much doubt we are going to end up in a position where we will be taking anybody back, not least because of course when it comes to France, another EU country, they are not in the business of taking illegal migrants who come here back, either.
Police will start detaining asylum seekers scheduled to be deported to Rwanda from Monday, weeks earlier than planned.
Micheal Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, will co-chair a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) in London on Monday with Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris to discuss the possibility of return.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said Ireland would not “provide a loophole” to solve other countries’ migration problems. Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill called for a “considered” and “measured” response from both governments.
Irish ministers are expected to discuss emergency legislation on Tuesday that would see asylum seekers returned to the UK. The legislation is being drafted in response to a ruling by Ireland’s High Court, which ruled that Ireland’s designation of the UK as a “safe third country” for the return of asylum seekers in the context of the Rwanda plan contravened EU law.
Ireland is drafting emergency legislation to return asylum seekers to the UK, saying it will not accept any more arrivals, reports said Sunday.
The Taoiseach (Irish prime minister), Simon Harris, has instructed Justice Minister Helen McEntee to amend laws to allow asylum seekers entering the country to be sent back to the UK, Irish media reported, amid concerns that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan was rerouting asylum seekers from Britain following an influx over the border with Northern Ireland.
Speaking at an event in County Monaghan on Sunday, Harris stressed that Ireland will not compromise its integrity due to other countries’ migration policies, asserting the importance of maintaining their own migration rules. He said:
Anybody else’s migration policy can’t be allowed to undermine ours.
Irish justice minister Helen McEntee has said that more than 80 per cent of the country’s asylum seekers now cross the border from Northern Ireland. Ms. McEntee added last week she was introducing “fast processing” in a bid to deal with the influx of people claiming refuge. She noted:
My focus as minister for justice is making sure that we have an effective immigration structure and system. That’s why I’ll have emergency legislation at cabinet this week to make sure that we can effectively return people to the UK, and that’s why I’ll be meeting the Home Secretary [James Cleverly] to raise these issues on Monday.
The UK’s Rwanda bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle last Monday after a marathon tussle between the upper and lower chambers of parliament. Sunak hopes the bill will prevent asylum seekers from trying to enter the UK on small boats over the English Channel from northern Europe.
