Laws to send asylum seekers back to UK to go to Cabinet
THE Governemnet will bring emergency laws to Cabinet this week which will allow asylum seekers to be sent back to the UK.
Earlier this week the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that 80% of recent International Protection applicants arriving here came from the UK, across the border from the North.
Speaking last night, Minister McEntee said: ‘There are many reasons why we have seen an increase in migration toward Ireland.
‘What’s clear in the decision that the UK have taken, in choosing Brexit they have actually seen an increase in people seeking asylum in their country. They way that they deal with that, it’s there policy.
‘My focus as Minister for Justice is making sure that we have an effective immigration structure and system.
‘That’s why I’m introducing fast processing, 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 with the Home Secretary to raise these issues on Monday,’ she told RTÉ’s Six One News.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Simon Harris said his focus is on protecting the integrity of the country’s migration system.
Mr Harris was responding to comments released ahead of an interview with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak where he claimed his controversial Rwanda third country asylum plan ‘was already having an impact’.
Mr Sunak was asked about comments by Tánaiste Micheál Martin on Saturday that the policy was already affecting Ireland, with people ‘fearful’ of staying in the UK, replying: ‘Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.’
The Foreign Affairs Minister also said asylum seekers were looking ‘to get sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda’.
Responding, Mr Sunak told Sky News: ‘People are worried about coming here and that demonstrates exactly what I’m saying... if people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.’
Mr Sunak said the comments also illustrate ‘that illegal migration is a global challenge’.
‘[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about third-country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem. I believe they’ll follow where the UK has led’.
Mr Sunak told Trevor Phillips his focus ‘is on the UK and securing our border’.
Last night a spokesman for the Taoiseach told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The Taoiseach doesn’t comment on the migration policies of any other country but he is very clear about the importance of protecting the integrity of the migration system in Ireland.
‘Ireland has a rules-based system that must always be applied firmly and fairly. In that context, the Taoiseach has asked the Minister for Justice to bring proposals to Cabinet next week to amend existing law regarding the designation of safe “third countries” and allowing return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK.
‘This is one of a number of measures we are taking to strengthen our system and ensure that it is strong, effective and agile.’ Speaking at his party’s Ard Fheis in Maynooth yesterday, Aontú leader, Peadar Tóibín said: ‘I’m actually quite shocked that Sunak would claim as a victory that they are diverting immigrants
into Ireland’.