‘We will not be used as a loophole in another country’s immigration challenges.’ Those were the angry words of Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris over the weekend, a further escalation in the war of words between Dublin and Downing Street which have seen diplomatic relations between the two nations reach their lowest point since the darkest days of the fraught and fractious Brexit negotiations.
The news that the Irish government now plans to change existing legislation to allow them to return illegal immigrants who arrived in the country from the UK is unlikely to see a warming of relations any time soon.
As things stand, the UK is not seen as a ‘safe country’ Ireland can deport immigrants to because of its controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. But such is the fury within the Irish government at recent developments, they want to rewrite existing laws and immediately start deporting immigrants to the UK.
In truth, it’s hard to see an amicable solution being forged between the two governments.
When asked about the possibility of a deal being formed on the return of asylum seekers to the UK from the Republic, Rishi Sunak was adamant: ‘We’re not interested in that. We’re not going to accept returns from the EU via Ireland when the EU doesn’t accept returns back to France where illegal immigrants are coming from.’
The escalating row between Dublin and Downing Street was sparked last week when Justice Minister, Helen McEntee, told a parliamentary committee that over 80 per cent of asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the Republic had come to Britain via Northern Ireland.
That announcement sparked fury with many Irish people who feel that this country is being forced to deal with Westminster’s immigration mess.
The furore could not have happened at a worse time, and it was no great surprise when Monday’s planned meeting between Ms McEntee and James Cleverly was cancelled, due, apparently, to ‘a diary clash’. As a result, McEntee decided to skip this week’s meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference and met with her own officials instead.
Prior to the postponement of the meeting between McEntee and Cleverly, officials had expressed their hope that they would be able to improve cooperation between the Irish Justice Department and the Home Office, and create a coordinated plan for immigration between the Gardai and the PSNI. That seems further away than ever before.
The reasons for Irish chagrin are understandable. Ireland is in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis with the number of homeless Irish people now reaching record figures. Yet immigration has now replaced housing as the most pressing issue on the minds of many voters – something which would have seemed incomprehensible a few years ago.
With a general election due within a year, this will be the ultimate wedge issue between the parties and one which could stymie the previously pro-immigration Sinn Fein from securing a commanding victory at the polls.
The Wicklow town of Newtown Mount Kennedy has become the most recent flashpoint for anti-immigrant tensions. Last week saw clashes between anti-immigration protestors and Gardai, with five arrests made and officers using pepper spray to try to disperse the crowd.
The locals are furious at proposed plans to turn a disused former school into a refuge for asylum seekers. The demonstrators were seen being cheered on by observers and local shop keepers.
One of the main objections is familiar to many towns and villages across Ireland – a lack of amenities, the closure of the few remaining hotels, and the worry about how a small town is meant to cope with an influx of young foreign men with nothing to do and nowhere to go.
That doesn’t make the demonstrators racist, of course. But equally there can be no denying that there has been a rise of racist marchers joining the otherwise peaceful, local protesters. At the numerous demos in the normally sleepy Wicklow village, some of the marchers chanted about the ‘great replacement theory’, and carried flags saying ‘Ireland For the Irish’ and ‘We are not a plantation, we will not be replaced.’
These are scenes which have been replicated across the country. The fact that many Irish people now feel that they are being expected to also cope with excess migrants escaping the UK has raised both local and political tensions.
Sunak may be correct when he points to the influx into the Republic and says it is proof that the Rwanda plan is ‘working as a deterrent’ but that is precious little comfort for people in previously peaceful places like Newtown Mount Kennedy.
Relations had been improving between the Republic and the UK since the tensest days of the Brexit negotiations, but all that good work, which Simon Harris said was absolutely vital, seems to now lie in ruins.
Ironically, it now looks like the United Kingdom has a taken a tip from the French playbook – allowing migrants to move to another country and then refusing to take them back when asked politely.
The Irish like to pride themselves on being one of the most enthusiastic members of the EU. If the UK sticks to its obdurate refusal to repatriate migrants who had previously resided there, it will be interesting to see how much help the EU offers the Irish. If previous experience is anything to go by, I wouldn’t be holding out too much hope.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/ireland-is-furious-about-britains-immigration-mess/