[Jimbuna]

Cheeky Blighters!

A plan to draft new Irish legislation which would redesignate the UK as a "safe country" to which asylum seekers can be returned has been approved.

Irish government ministers collectively approved the plan brought to Cabinet by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

Last week she claimed more than 80% of recent asylum claims were from people who arrived in the state by crossing the border with Northern Ireland.

But the British government has said it will decide who it accepts into the UK.

The Irish government has recently expressed concern that the UK's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is encouraging more refugees to come to the Republic of Ireland.

Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin said last week that asylum seekers were seeking "sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda".

On Monday, Mr Martin was asked to clarify Ms McEntee's claim that 80% of asylum seekers come to the Republic of Ireland via the land border.

He replied that it was not statistical and "not a data-based sort of evidence base" but he added it was very clear that "there's a change in the nature of where migrants have come from".

Closing a 'loophole'
The situation has been complicated by a recent Irish court ruling.

In March, the High Court in Dublin ruled that Ireland's designation of the UK as a safe third country for returning asylum seekers was contrary to EU law, external, in light of the UK's controversial Rwanda policy.

On Tuesday morning, Ms McEntee brought her proposal to the Irish Cabinet in a bid to close the "loophole" that has arisen as a result of the High Court judgement.

"What this will do is enable us to redesignate the UK as a safe country for the purposes of returns," she told reporters on her way into the Cabinet meeting.

Ms McEntee also explained that Republic of Ireland already had a post-Brexit agreement in place with the British government to return asylum seekers who had travelled to the Republic of Ireland from the UK.

However, she said that because of the Covid pandemic and the recent High Court ruling the return agreement “has not been effective”.

Ms McEntee said her proposed legislation would address the ruling and close the loophole.

No 'legal obligation' on UK
However, a Downing Street spokesperson appeared to contradict her claims about the extent of the post-Brexit agreement between the Irish and UK governments.

Number 10 conceded that there are “operational arrangements” between UK and Ireland but said there was “not a legal obligation to accept the return of asylum seekers".

The spokesperson also confirmed that "under those operational arrangements no asylum seekers have been returned to the UK".

They added: "It’s up to the UK government who we do and do not accept into the country.”

Tuesday's statement from Number 10 echoes recent comments from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has already said his government is "not interested" in accepting asylum seekers back from Ireland.

"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," Mr Sunak told ITV.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czq588jqz8lo