Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard Agence France-Presse “Ireland will in no way provide an escape route for anyone’s migration challenges. It’s very clear,” warned Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris.
France Media Agency in Dublin
Posted at 3:05 p.m.
- Europe
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris on Sunday adopted a firm stance against London on immigration, warning that his government wanted to send back migrants to the United Kingdom in the face of the influx linked to the British policy of expulsions towards Rwanda .
According to the Irish government, 80% of recent arrivals of illegal aliens are via the land border — opened under the 1998 peace agreement — between the British province of Ireland of North and the Republic of Ireland.
“Every country has the right to have its own immigration policy, but I certainly have no intention of letting anyone’s migration policy affect the integrity of ours.” , Simon Harris said on Sunday, according to Irish media.
The firmness displayed by the head of the centrist government comes after his British counterpart Rishi Sunak, questioned about the influx cited by Dublin, mentioned the dissuasive effect of the new law which should allow the United Kingdom to soon expel migrants towards Rwanda.
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“Ireland will in no way provide an escape route for anyone’s migration challenges. It’s very clear,” warned Simon Harris.
The Irish leader also stressed that his Justice Minister would present to the government on Tuesday his proposals to implement a new policy to return migrants to the United Kingdom.
According to the Irish public media RTE, citing a spokesperson for the Prime Minister, these proposals should aim to “amend the current law regarding the designation of safe third countries and allow the return to the United Kingdom of applicants for international protection not admissible”.
Refusal of London
This is “one of many steps we are taking to strengthen our system and ensure it is strong, efficient and agile,” the spokesperson stressed.
But on the British side, a government spokesperson declared to the newspaper The Guardian that London would not accept any return of asylum seekers from the EU via Ireland “until the EU agrees that we can send them back to France”.
“We are fully focused on implementing the Rwanda plan and will continue to work with the French to prevent “illegal” boats from crossing the Channel,” the spokesperson added.
Ireland, a member country of the European Union of five million inhabitants, has been plagued in recent months by growing tensions over the accommodation of migrants, with an increase in hostile demonstrations sometimes punctuated by violent incidents.
On RTE, Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee — responsible for internal affairs — indicated on Saturday that she would discuss the return of migrants to the United Kingdom with British Interior Minister James Cleverly during a visit to London on Monday.
“What is clear about the decision the United Kingdom made in choosing Brexit is that they are seeing an increase in asylum seekers in their country,” said the minister.
“My concern as Minister of Justice is to ensure that we have an effective immigration system and structures,” she said. “That’s why I will be introducing emergency legislation this week to ensure that we can indeed send people back to the UK effectively,” she added.