Cabinet told 90% of asylum seekers came from NI this year

The Cabinet has been told it is now estimated that so far this year up to 90% of asylum seekers in Ireland have travelled from Northern Ireland.

RTÉ News understands this figure was provided by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee in her update to colleagues this morning.

Previously, Ms McEntee had said that 80% of asylum seekers coming into the country are coming from the UK via Northern Ireland across the border.

Speaking on RTÉ's Six One programme, Ms McEntee said that the at least 80% figure came from the Justice Department as well as those presenting at the International Protection office.

She said that today's figure of 91% represents those applying for asylum directly at the International Protection office.

The figures come as the Cabinet approved proposals to quickly draft legislation so that the UK can again be designated as a safe country to return people seeking asylum.

The Department of Justice has been working on this legislation since the High Court ruled last month that the designation of the UK as a safe third country did not comply with EU law.

The Government insists it is simply restoring an agreement it had with Britain since 2020 which allows people to be returned. This was a post-Brexit agreement which was underpinned by the Common Travel Area.

However, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was adamant yesterday that no deal can be done with the State until there are moves by the European Union to allow Britain to return migrants to France.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Earlier, Ms McEntee said the emergency legislation is not a panacea but part of an immigration system that is "firm and fair".

She said she hopes the legislation will be enacted in a matter of weeks so people can effectively be returned, and it will allow for fast processing.

Ms McEntee referred especially to the numbers coming from Nigeria and said this legislation will be effective in seeing those numbers drop.

She said where she has introduced this arrangement already, there has been a 50% drop in the numbers coming from those countries.

"That is why in the last week I have designated the country with the highest number of people, which is currently Nigeria, into that accelerated procedure. We know that many of them are coming from the UK," she said.

Ms McEntee said the legislation will make sure that any loopholes which currently exist are closed, adding that the legislation is one of a number of measures she is bringing forward to tackle the issue.

She said: "We have to be able to return people to the UK, but there is an arrangement in place. We've been working with the UK, and I don't expect that that will change.

"This is one of a number of measures that I'm bringing forward and that I have been doing to make sure that we have an immigration system that's firm but fair."

"We cannot have a loophole or a system where we cannot effectively return people despite comments that have been made. This arrangement is already in place," she added.

Ms McEntee said that ties between Ireland and the UK are "extremely close", adding that because of this and the Common Travel Area, migration arrangements are in place here which are different to other countries.

She said she looked forward to continuing to work with the UK on making sure they prevent any threats or abuses of the Common Travel Area.

The minister said that she will be meeting her UK counterparts "in the coming weeks" to address the issue, after a scheduled meeting with the UK Home Secretary yesterday was postponed.

"This meeting will happen in the coming weeks, and we've already spoken about rearranging it. So this is not about anybody snubbing anybody.

"We are working collectively together, and I think that's the approach that always needs to be taken. We've extremely close ties here."

Taoiseach defends Ireland's migration policy

Taoiseach Simon Harris defended Ireland's approach to migration, saying it is a "firm rules-based" one.

Mr Harris said his priority is making sure the integrity of Ireland’s migration policy is beyond question.

He also said Ireland has adopted a very simple common sense approach.

He said the emergency legislation is about giving practical legal effect to what has already been agreed between the UK and Ireland since 2020.

Mr Harris said he was not getting involved in British politics, but welcomed comments made yesterday by the Northern Ireland Secretary on the importance of working together.

However, he also said he does not accept the narrative that Ireland is waiting for another country in relation to its own migration policy.

He said if someone is assessed and they do not have the right to be here, they can be asked to leave.

He said he values the information from those working on the frontline, who are telling Government there is a significant number coming over the border.

"It would be a foolish government that would discard that information," he added.

He said he believes Ms McEntee is right in saying that one of the best ways to make progress is faster processing times, and he expects that as a result the number of applications should drop.

He also expressed concern around the scenes at Mount Street with a rise in tent numbers.

"I don't like the scenario at all. I think from a human rights point of view we need to do better by people there," Mr Harris added.

80% figure 'too high' - Irish Refugee Council

Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council Nick Henderson said the figure of 80% in relation to the amount of asylum seekers coming through the border from Northern Ireland is "too high".

He said that until the Department of Justice publishes its methodology of collecting the data, it is difficult to determine what the figure actually is.

Mr Henderson told RTÉ's Morning Ireland: "80% is extremely high and it's important to note that just because a person has not applied for protection at an airport, for example Dublin Airport or at a port, it does not automatically mean that the person has crossed the border from Northern Ireland.

"So to us it sounds high and until the department publishes its methodology and workings on this, it remains to be seen as to whether it's accurate."

Separately, Ms McEntee was due to update Cabinet on garda efforts to prevent any abuse of the Common Travel Area.

Gardaí are working with the PSNI on the matter with around 100 members of the force set to be moved from immigration registration work to concentrate on frontline duties including deportations.

The Department of Justice said that gardaí will not be assigned to physically police the border with Northern Ireland.

In a statement, the department clarified that the work required to make the 100 gardaí available for frontline duties would take up to 12 months.

While it emphasised that the protection of an open border on the island of Ireland is a "key priority to the communities on both sides".

Since January 2024, the Department took on additional functions at Dublin Airport in respect of initial processing of International Protection applicants.

This includes carrying out a preliminary interview and fingerprinting of applicants.

Asylum seekers could challenge deportation to UK - immigration lawyer

An immigration lawyer has said that asylum seekers facing deportation to the UK could challenge those decisions because of the risk of being sent on to Rwanda.

Barrister David Leonard told the Oireachtas Justice Committee that it was difficult to predict whether Rwanda deportations from the UK would go ahead.

However, he said that given that the UK Supreme Court had struck down a previous proposal on Rwanda deportations because it could breach human rights, individuals here could rely on that to mount a legal challenge to an order to return to the UK.

"Applicants, if at risk of being sent to the UK and sent in a chain then on a flight to Rwanda from the UK, they would argue that Ireland could not lawfully send them to the UK to expose them to that risk. There would definitely be case law on that if Rwanda does go ahead."