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A row between the British government and the Republic of Ireland over illegal migration has been dismissed as ‘blown out of proportion’ by diplomatic sources on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Reports emerged this weekend pointing to tension between the two sides over Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy and claims from Dublin that it has caused a spike in the number of asylum seekers entering the Republic of Ireland via the open border with Northern Ireland. A pre-arranged bilateral meeting between Helen McEntee, the Justice Secretary in Dublin, and Home Secretary James Cleverly, scheduled for Monday, was subsequently postponed – suggesting growing tension between the two sides.
But figures from London and Dublin are keen to “take the heat and hysteria” out of the situation, which some say is being played to the political advantage of both parties.
A government source said this PoliticsHome that the meeting between the two ministers would be reorganized, stressing that it was not unusual for meetings to be postponed.
A Whitehall official described the row as a “storm in a teacup”, saying elements on both sides had an interest in discussing the row for political purposes. “It’s just been blown out of proportion and it’s being used by both sides to appear tough,” they said PoliticsHome.
Sunak, who has made ending small boat crossings a key promise to voters, faces the prospect of significant Tory losses in local and mayoral elections held on Thursday, while opinion polls continue to suggest the Conservatives are very likely to win the next general election will lose. to Keir Starmer’s Labor Party. Newly appointed Prime Minister Simon Harris has his own local elections to think about in June, while there are concerns in the Republic of Ireland about the growth of far-right politics.
Last week, McEntee told a parliamentary committee in Dublin that 80 percent of asylum seekers who had recently arrived in the Republic of Ireland appeared to have entered the country from Northern Ireland. Michael Martin, the country’s deputy prime minister, added that Sunak’s policy of deporting refugees to Rwanda as a means of deterring illegal migration had “a real impact on Ireland” by making asylum seekers “afraid” of entering to reside in Great Britain.
“They are leaving Britain and taking the opportunity to come to Ireland, cross the border to find refuge here and within the European Union, as opposed to the possibility of being deported to Rwanda,” Martin said last week.
Speak with Sky News On Sunday, Sunak, who is under significant pressure to demonstrate to both the public and critical Conservative MPs that his approach to stopping small boat crossings will be fruitful, said the Irish ministers’ comments showed that the Rwanda plan “ already having an impact because people are afraid to come here.”
The Irish government said last week it would take legislative steps to ensure it can return asylum seekers to Britain, further fueling the idea that London and Dublin are heading for an even bigger row.
However, the Irish government today stressed that this move was always planned and will be limited to addressing a recent Irish Supreme Court ruling which stated that Britain cannot be considered a safe country to send refugees due to the risk of deportation to Rwanda. A source in Dublin described the steps taken as “technical”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Sunak’s official spokesman reiterated that the government would not pursue a return deal with Dublin as long as the European Union, of which the Republic of Ireland is a member state, did not agree to take asylum seekers from Britain.
“As things stand, the EU is not accepting asylum returns from Britain, for example to France. And so from the UK government’s perspective, we are not going to accept asylum returns from the EU for as long as that is the case,” they said. .
They added that the passing of new legislation by the Irish government “would not change the fact that it is the British government who decide who we allow into the country and who we do not.”
However, they struck a more cautious tone when it came to the 80 percent figure cited by the Irish government, telling reporters that the British government does not have its own data it can use to confirm that figure.
“For our part, we don’t have the data,” they said. “If that is what the Irish government sees, then you can see some evidence of a deterrent effect. I would be careful with these numbers. We have no data on what exactly those movements are. That’s clearly something we do.” we will continue to monitor.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris also said on Monday that the government does not want to disrupt our relationship with Ireland “in any way”, explaining that since Brexit Britain has been tasked with dealing with the EU as a whole on issues such as migration. .
Heaton Harris was speaking at a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in London, where he led talks with Irish Deputy Prime Minister Martin.
In a joint statement issued afterwards, the two sides said they had agreed to “closely monitor this matter and note the importance of continuing to cooperate in this area”.
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