(PatriotWise.com) — Irish and UK officials met on Monday as tensions between the two countries have increased over Ireland’s plan to return asylum seekers to the UK.
Over the weekend, Irish premier Simon Harris warned that his country would not provide the UK a “loophole” for its migration problems after his Justice Minister Helen McEntee asserted that over 80 percent of those seeking asylum in Ireland were entering from neighboring Northern Ireland.
Irish lawmakers planned to discuss emergency legislation to return asylum seekers to the UK.
However, on Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK did not accept returns from the European Union via France, nor would it accept returns via Ireland.
Ireland, unlike its northern neighbor, is not a part of Great Britain but is a member of the EU.
The British prime minister suggested that the increase in migrants crossing from Great Britain to Ireland showed that his Rwanda deportation policy to deter asylum seekers from traveling to the UK was working.
The UK Parliament last week approved Sunak’s controversial deportation plan to send some illegal migrants who arrive in the UK to Rwanda.
Sunak said migrants would be deterred from making the dangerous trek across the English Channel if they knew they would be deported to an African country. Over the weekend, the prime minister said the plan was already “having an impact” as a deterrent because migrants are “worried about coming here.”
At a press conference following Monday’s meeting, Northern Ireland’s UK Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris and Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Martin, attempted to downplay the rift between the two countries over the question of asylum seekers.
Heaton-Harris said the two Irelands were committed to protecting common travel from “abuse.”
Ireland’s proposed legislation to return migrants to the UK was in response to a ruling from the Irish High Court that found that the country’s designation of Great Britain as a “safe third country” for those seeking asylum was contrary to EU law.
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