Majority of Irish now want migrant checkpoints at northern border
Half of the Irish public now want migrant checkpoints at the border with Northern Ireland following a surge in the number of asylum seekers fleeing the UK’s Rwanda plan, a new poll has shown.
Fifty per cent of respondents told the Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks they would support checkpoint measures to limit the number of asylum seekers arriving from Britain, with 82 per cent backing deportations back to the UK.
With tented communities continuing to grow in Dublin, as many as 40 per cent of poll respondents added that they would support Ireland having a policy similar to Britain’s Rwanda scheme – with 42 per cent opposing the measures.
Despite the growing concern over migration in Ireland, both Sinn Féin and the Irish government have said that imposing checkpoints on the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as a Rwanda-style deportation scheme, are out of the question.
Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntree recently claimed 80 per cent of this year’s estimated 7,000 asylum seekers had come from the UK via Northern Ireland, prompting the government to declare the UK was unsafe for migrants owing to the Rwanda plan and triggering a diplomatic spat.
Asylum seekers tents seen on the Grand Canal bank at Warrington Place in Dublin
A tented village in Dublin on April 30, 2024, with migrants left to sleep on footpaths and roads
As many as 40 per cent of poll respondents added that they would support Ireland having a policy similar to Britain’s Rwanda scheme
Critics slamming new Taoiseach Simon Harris (Pictured)for being out-manouvered by Rishi Sunak on the issue of migration
Irish Cabinet members told The Mail on Sunday that fierce divisions had since emerged within the Irish government, critics slamming new Taoiseach Simon Harris for being out-manouvered by Rishi Sunak on the issue.
Following the row with the Conservative party over migration to Ireland, concern over immigration has spiked 15 per cent, according to the poll.
And 72 per cent said they believed McEntree’s disputed claim about the number of migrants arriving in Ireland from Northern Ireland.
Rishi Sunak has refused to take back any refugees from Ireland unless France agrees to take back refugees who crossed the English Channel to get to the UK in the first place.
He warned Ireland against sending police to patrol the border for illegal migrants, however, amid concerns of a ‘hard border’ emerging between north and south.
The Prime Minister said last week Dublin must keep its promise after the Republic pledged to send 100 Gardai officers to police the border amid concern of rising migrant numbers.
Even before the massive surge of migrants, Ireland’s Department of Integration and the International Protection Office were struggling to deal with at least 30,000 asylum seekers and 100,000 Ukrainian refugees amid a devastating housing supply crisis.
Frustrated Irish citizens are suspected to have burned down dozens of derelict building designated as future asylum centres as early as 2018 and as recently as April, when a site in County Wicklow that saw protests against the government for its decision to use it for refugees was set alight.
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