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Last week, Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, indicated that a migrant returns agreement with France to help break up smuggling gangs and stop people making the perilous journey across the Channel was “simply not possible” after Brexit.
He said “the situation we’re in” meant a deal to send migrants back to France when they landed in Britain, in place when he was Prime Minister, could not be replicated.
Last week, Micheal Martin, the Irish deputy prime minister, said the UK’s Rwanda policy was “impacting on Ireland” because people were “fearful” of staying in the UK and were seeking asylum in Ireland instead.
Following his comments, Helen McEntee, the Irish justice minister, discussed the plan to send asylum seekers back to the UK on RTE, the national broadcaster, on Sunday.
Simon Harris, the Irish prime minister, has asked that the proposals to be brought to his cabinet this week as he faces growing public pressure over rising migration figures.
Ms McEntee said: “My focus as minister for justice is making sure that we have an effective immigration structure and system.
“That’s why I’m introducing fast processing. That’s why I’ll have emergency legislation at cabinet this week to make sure that we can effectively return people to the UK, and that’s why I’ll be meeting the Home Secretary [James Cleverly] to raise these issues on Monday.”
However, Mr Cleverly has cancelled the meeting, saying he had a diary clash. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, is expected to meet senior Irish officials on Monday and make the Government’s position clear.
Mr Heaton-Harris, who once chaired the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs, is meeting Mr Martin and Ms McEntee at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in London. Lord Caine and Steve Baker, two other Northern Ireland ministers, are also attending.
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