Attempts to toughen up asylum rules in the UK could have significant implications for relations with Ireland, Dublin’s justice minister has said, amid concerns that this could increase migration flows to Ireland.
More than 80% of people who use irregular routes to Ireland originate from Great Britain, travelling to Belfast by plane or boat and then by road to Dublin to make asylum claims, the justice department has said.
“I am committed to ensuring that Ireland is not viewed more favourably than the UK by those seeking to claim asylum,” Jim O’Callaghan said after a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference in Dublin.
“Consequently, I will closely monitor the changes proposed by the UK government and will respond to those proposals having considered them fully and discussed them with government colleagues,” he added.
On Monday, the UK government unveiled controversial proposals for the biggest changes to migration in 40 years, including plans to make it easier to remove people with no right to be in the country.
Ireland has had a rise in irregular migration in recent years and is experiencing a similar backlash to the UK in certain quarters of the voter base.
Nevertheless, an open border with Northern Ireland has existed for more than 100 years and there is no appetite to introduce checks on the movement of people.
Speaking after the conference in Dublin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, said the invisible borders of the common travel area (CTA) were “never intended to play a role in terms of asylum seekers”.
After the UK voted to leave the EU, there were attempts to put checks on the Irish border with Brexit supporters claiming that people would flow from the republic through a “backdoor” into the UK via Northern Ireland.
Random checks conducted by the Home Office at ports and airports shows that there are some who have done this but migration in the other direction has become the dominant issue.
Border checks on movement of people between Northern Ireland and the republic would be a huge challenge to the CTA, which has existed for more than 100 years.
O’Callaghan said: “We need to be nimble in Ireland, as we may need to change our laws and our provisions as well to respond to any changes that have taken place in the UK.”
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He will be publishing a new international protection bill to update Ireland’s asylum system later this year.
O’Callaghan said “any necessary changes arising from the UK’s change of policy” could be included in that bill.
Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on justice, home affairs and migration, said comments by O’Callaghan that changes to Britain’s immigration laws might require Irish laws to be updated highlighted exactly why it would be a mistake for Ireland to sign up to all of the EU migration and asylum pact.
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