Poll: 50pc in favour of migrant checkpoints at the Border with Northern Ireland

Half of the public, including a ­majority of Sinn Féin supporters, want checkpoints on the Border to limit the number of asylum seekers coming from the UK, according to the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll.

There is also strong support here for a ‘Rwanda-style’ policy to deter migrants coming to Ireland, the poll finds.

An overwhelming 82pc of people want immigrants who have come here from Britain through Northern Ireland to be deported back to the UK.

After an intense week, which involved a political and diplomatic row between Ireland and the Conservative government in the UK, concern over immigration has dramatically soared by 15 points here, according to the poll.

The vast majority (72pc) believe Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s assertion that 80pc of recent immigrants have arrived in the Republic, from Britain, via Northern Ireland.

The poll finds 50pc want checkpoints on the Border to deter migrants. This rises to 52pc among Sinn Féin voters.

There is also 40pc support for a policy similar to that planned by the Tories in the UK to deport migrants to Rwanda, with 42pc against such a proposal and 17pc unsure.

Both the Government and Sinn Féin have firmly ruled out checkpoints on the Border and a Rwanda-style policy.

However, the public is divided on the proposed EU Migration and Asylum Pact — 36pc say Ireland should join, 31pc are against, and 33pc are unsure.

Sinn Féin intends to vote No to the Government’s proposal to opt Ireland fully into the EU pact — because, it says, the country must “retain sovereignty” over our immigration system.

As Sinn Féin diverges from the Government on the issue, that party has doubled its lead over Fine Gael in the past month — with Fianna Fáil, which won 27pc of the vote in the last local elections, now facing the prospect of losing up to 100 seats in the local elections next month.

The state of the parties is: Sinn Féin (29pc) up three points; Fine Gael (19pc) down two points; Independents (19pc) up two; Fianna Fáil (16pc) unchanged; Social Democrats (6pc) unchanged; Green Party (4pc) unchanged; Aontú (3pc) down one point; Labour (3pc) unchanged; and Solidarity-PBP (2pc) unchanged.

As an issue of concern, immigration (41pc) is up 15 points in a month, second only to housing (54pc), down five points, and well ahead of healthcare (29pc), down two points, with the cost of living (25pc), also down two points.

In relation to the migration pact, there is strong support for increased screening at borders (71pc) ahead of returning immigrants to “safe countries” (61pc), with payment to other EU and non-EU countries to process refugees (27pc) further behind.

After the Dublin riots last year, Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks polled on concerns over increased immigration versus the rise of the far right.

This month, the findings are completely reversed: increased immigration (55pc) is up 13 points; growth of the far right (43pc) is down 12 points.

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