Why has the relationship between Ireland and Britain soured over the issue of asylum?
Why has the relationship between Ireland and Britain soured over the issue of asylum?
Relations between Ireland and Britain have gone downhill significantly in a row over the return of asylum seekers. Taoiseach Simon Harris and Government ministers have claimed that around of 80 per cent of asylum seekers now arriving in the Republic are first entering the UK and then crossing over the border with Northern Ireland.
They say the UK’s imminent plans to start exporting its asylum applicants to Rwanda is driving more migrants to Ireland. Britain has done a deal worth hundreds of millions of pounds for the impoverished African nation to take irregular migrants while they await a decision on their applications.
Last month, the Irish High Court ruled that Ireland designating the UK as a "safe third country" for returning asylum seekers, in the context of the Rwanda plan, is contrary to EU law. Taoiseach Simon Harris has vowed to bring in emergency legislation to override this, saying that while every country was entitled to have its own migration policies, Ireland would not “provide a loophole for anybody else’s migration challenges”.
Ireland had hoped to come to a deal with the UK over the return of migrants who travelled via the UK, but home secretary James Cleverly cancelled a meeting with Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee, citing a scheduling clash, resulting in Ms McEntee cancelling her own trip to the UK. British leader Rishi Sunak then made it clear that his government was “not interested” in any attempt by Ireland to send back migrants.
He has vowed flights to Rwanda will begin in weeks, as he faces into local elections. Mr Sunak has claimed the Irish reaction shows the Tories’ Rwanda plan is already working. “We're not going to accept returns from the EU via Ireland when the EU doesn't accept returns back to France where illegal migrants are coming from,” he said.
The Irish Refugee Council has questioned the Irish Government’s 80 per cent figure, and also cast doubt on whether the proposed emergency legislation could ever be legally sound under Irish or EU human rights law. New British Home Office figures show more than 7,000 people arrived by small boats across the English Channel before the end of April. Ireland had more than 13,000 asylum applications in 2022, and more than 6,000 to the end of April so far this year.
The Irish Government is seeking to accelerate asylum decisions, by designating more origin countries ‘safe’ and also prioritising countries with high numbers of applicants for decisions within 90 days.
