This Is How Migrants and Asylum Seekers Threaten Fragile British–Irish Relations

Amid the increasing numbers of migrants in the United Kingdom, the dispute between Britain and Ireland has escalated, threatening the collapse of their already fragile relations, in light of the approaching elections in both countries.

Migration has become one of the most important issues of concern to voters in Ireland, amid the housing crisis, especially since more than 1,800 asylum seekers are currently living homeless and sleeping on the streets.

Disputes also recently emerged between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his newly elected Irish counterpart, Simon Harris, after the Irish government submitted emergency legislation allowing the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK.

On the other hand, a new poll showed that half of the Irish people want to establish migration checkpoints on the border with Northern Ireland to slow the number of asylum seekers arriving from Britain, which coincided with the launch of anti-immigration protests throughout Dublin.

The influx of refugees is currently under increased scrutiny in Dublin, as Sunak intensifies his campaign to stop boats carrying migrants across the English Channel from France.

This latest row has renewed concerns about recently agreed settlements on trade across the Irish Sea and power-sharing between Unionists and Nationalists in Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK after it leaves the European Union.

Influential Policy

The Irish Deputy Prime Minister Michael Martin revealed an increase in the number of asylum seekers coming from the United Kingdom to Ireland to escape deportation to Rwanda.

One day after the British government approved the Rwanda plan, which allows asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda, Martin commented by saying that this policy has already begun to affect Ireland, according to the Telegraph.

Martin said that more people are seeking refuge in the Republic of Ireland, a member of the European Union, because they are afraid of staying in Britain and being deported to Rwanda.

The Rwanda plan requires British courts and migration authorities to deem the east African country safe, theoretically allowing those who cross the Channel to be sent to Rwanda to process their asylum claims there.

The border separating Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is the only land border between the UK and the EU since Britain's exit from the EU in February 2020.

Although there are no migration controls on these borders, they are effectively open to migrants who wish to seek asylum within one of the EU countries.

Late last month, Ireland's Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that more than 80% of people seeking asylum in Ireland come from Britain via the land border with Northern Ireland.

Ireland has witnessed a steady rise in the number of people applying for asylum. From the beginning of this year until last April 12, the number of people who applied for asylum in Ireland reached more than 6,000 people.

According to observers, if this rate continues, Ireland may record a record number of more than 20,000 asylum applications by the end of 2024, noting that the previous record was 13,000 applications in 2004.

Since last January, the Irish government has granted 251 people asylum, but it has refused to grant international protection to 595 people, in a first of its kind, according to the Irish Times.

The newspaper also indicated that the Irish government also refused to grant 261 people asylum in the same period in 2023, in addition to 14 other people in 2022.

Asylum seekers in Ireland are suffering from a housing crisis that is still ongoing, as the Irish media has been highlighting it since last December.

At that time, the government acknowledged that it was facing a problem in securing housing for asylum seekers, which required placing them in temporary camps.

Legal Obligation

For British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, this proves that London's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is successful and has a deterrent effect.

Sunak said Irish politicians' comments show that illegal migration represents a global challenge.

"For this reason, many countries are talking about establishing partnerships with third countries, and are looking for new ways to solve this problem, and I believe that they will all follow what the UK has done," he added.

According to the plan, the first deportations to Rwanda will take place at the beginning of next July. However, London deported an asylum seeker to Rwanda, in the first operation of its kind, as part of a program for the voluntary deportation of migrants whose asylum applications were rejected.

The UK's Rwanda bill passed the final parliamentary hurdle, on April 22, after a long dispute between the House of Commons and the Lords in Parliament.

Sunak hopes the bill will prevent asylum seekers from trying to reach the UK on small boats across the sea from France.

British Home Office figures showed that a record number of more than 7,500 migrants crossed the Channel to reach Britain in the first four months of the year.

A spokesman for the Irish Prime Minister warned last week that Dublin would take steps to stem the flow of refugees, including deporting asylum seekers to the UK.

He explained that the Prime Minister asked the Minister of Justice to submit proposals to the Cabinet next week to amend the current law regarding choosing a safe third country, and to allow the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK.

This issue raises tensions between the two countries. London had warned that it would reject deportations from Ireland because, after Brexit, European countries would no longer accept asylum seekers sent by the UK.

In this context, Irish media reported that about 100 police would be deployed on the border with Northern Ireland, which is completely open after it was removed in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement that was reached to end decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.

Ireland's plan to send police officers to the border to stop migrants entering the country has sparked a heated row between Rishi Sunak and Simon Harris.

According to what was published by the Telegraph, Sunak said that the UK pledged to avoid hard borders as part of joint agreements, and the Irish government must fulfill its promises not to impose strict border measures on the island of Ireland and not to establish checkpoints.

He said: "Important international agreements should not be dealt with selectively," and indicated that the ministers are seeking urgent clarification that there will be no obstruction or checkpoints at or near the borders.

Irish media reported that the Republic would deploy police near the border with the north, but the Ministry of Justice quickly denied this idea, which it described as controversial, according to Bloomberg.

Irish police said their officers would not be sent to the border. 

It is noteworthy that the British–Irish dispute is fraught with centuries of history between Ireland and the island's former colonial rulers in London.

Continued cross-border movement was also one of the contentious issues between Britain and the EU in the wake of the Brexit referendum.

Simon Harris, who took control of Ireland's ruling party, Fine Gael, after Leo Varadkar's shock resignation as prime minister last March, needs to appear strong in his confrontation with Britain before the elections that must be held within 10 months.

Rishi Sunak is also facing similar electoral pressures, as the populist Reform UK party, founded by pro-Brexit Nigel Farage, pledged to reach the net migration rate to zero as part of its effort to reduce the number of votes supporting the ruling Conservative Party.

Migrant Row

In a related context, 50% of participants in a poll for the Independent Ireland newspaper said that they support checkpoint measures to limit the number of asylum seekers arriving from Britain, with 82% supporting deportations to the UK.

As tent communities continue to grow in Dublin, up to 40% of poll respondents added that they support Ireland following a policy similar to Britain's Rwanda plan, with 42% opposing such measures.

The poll also indicated that concern about migration to Ireland in the wake of the dispute with the Conservative Party increased by 15%.

72% said they believed disputed figures on the number of migrants arriving in Ireland from Northern Ireland, which Ireland's Justice Minister Helen McEntee estimated at 7,000 asylum seekers who came from the UK via Northern Ireland.

Last week, large crowds demonstrated in Dublin against the accommodation of asylum seekers, carrying banners, such as: "Ireland belongs to the Irish," "Irish civil rights," "mass deportations," "economic migrants are not refugees."

In contrast, other demonstrators held a counter-protest outside the GPO office on O'Connell Street, where they carried banners, such as: "Unite against racism," "Homes for the people, homes for all," "War creates refugees," and "All refugees welcome."

It is noteworthy that Ireland has taken in more than 100,000 refugees, about three-quarters from Ukraine, which has increased the urgency of the housing crisis nationwide.

Far-right groups have exploited migrants to motivate a small movement opposing the assimilation of foreigners, especially Muslims and Africans.

A stabbing attack committed by a man of Algerian origin last year also caused riots in Dublin, shocking a country unaccustomed to racist violence.