British newspaper suggestion that Gardaí are being sent to Northern Irish border rubbished
Suggestions in the British press that Gardaí would be sent to the Northern Irish border to police asylum seeker crossings have been rubbished.
Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin both flatly ruled out the prospect of border checks on Wednesday.
The front page of Thursday’s Daily Telegraph read: ‘Ireland sends police to border in migrant row’.
“A plan by Ireland to send police officers to the border to stop migrants entering the country triggered a row between [British Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak and the Irish prime minister,” it read.
“The Irish government has announced that 100 police officers are to be ‘redeployed’ to front-line immigration enforcement duties in border areas after ministers claimed up to 90 per cent of asylum seekers arriving in Dublin had come via Northern Ireland.”
Northern Ireland border
Further down in the article, it was acknowledged that “Mr Harris was then forced to insist that ‘of course’ there would be no police checkpoints and suggested what Mr Sunak was politicking ahead of local elections”.
It added: “He did not rule out sending officers to the border but the Department of Justice insisted that they would ‘not be assigned to physically police the border with Northern Ireland’.”
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) confirmed on Wednesday evening that the Tánaiste told the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris in a phone call that there would be “no deployment of officers from An Garda Siochana to the Northern Ireland/Ireland border”.
Government sources were critical of the Daily Telegraph piece, with one source branding it “horsesh*te”.
Several Government sources pointed out the story coincided with local elections being held across the UK on Thursday. It is widely expected that Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party will experience heavy losses. One source described it as “desperation”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right) meets Micheal Martin during a meeting at the British-Irish Council summit in Blackpool. Picture date: Thursday November 10, 2022.
Another Government source pointed out that the 100 Gardai being redeployed to core policing duties has been discussed with the British Government and Mr Heaton-Harris.
They argued that the redeployment does not mean Gardaí will be physically assigned to the border.
The Garda press office told the Irish Mirror that the Department of Justice had already confirmed that it is “not the case that these Gardaí will be assigned to physically police the border with Northern Ireland”.
“The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (COFPI) recommended that immigration administrative functions should transfer from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) to the Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) function of the Department of Justice,” they said.
“A number of these functions have already been transferred from GNIB to the ISD and An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice continue to engage intensively on the scope of further immigration operations to transfer to the Department. A roadmap outlining the functions for transfer is being finalised.
“This will set out the timeline for the transfer of work relating to the nationwide first registrations and renewals of residence permissions for all other counties from An Garda Síochána to the Registration Office, which is expected to be substantially completed within the next 12 months.
“It is estimated that this will lead to the re-deployment of up to 100 Gardaí from these immigration administrative functions to other duties.”