REVEALED: Gardaí to be deployed to Border areas as Cabinet approves transfer of asylum seekers to UK

The Cabinet approved emergency legislation on Tuesday to facilitate transfer to the United Kingdom of asylum seekers who have arrived through Northern Ireland.

Under the Dublin Regulation, when a migrant applies for international protection they will be asked about which other countries they have applied.

The International Protection Office (IPO) could then decide that another country should be responsible for their international protection application, and they could be transferred to that country. Britain is now outside the EU but both Irish and British governments have a similar agreement in place since 2020.

Speaking before the approval, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the legislation before Cabinet today will “close any loopholes” so Ireland can return migrants travelling through Northern Ireland back to the UK.

“This morning I will bring forward legislation and this will enable us to redesignate the UK as a safe country for the purpose of return,” McEntee said.

McEntee pointed out that Ireland "have an arrangement in place with the UK" post-Brexit to solve this issue, but that it hasn’t been in effect because of the High Court ruling.

“What I’m doing with this legislation is addressing the High Court’s ruling, and making sure that we close any loopholes that currently exist, we have to be able to return people to the UK. 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 is firm but fair.”

Helen McEntee said the legislation, which will be enacted in the coming weeks, will allow the Irish state to return people to the UK. Meanwhile, the Government will shift focus from processing asylum applications to prevention and deportation by allowing An Garda Síochána redeploy 100 officers to frontline duties including duties near the Border and deportations.

The Minister for Justice announced that she will provide an update on the work of An Garda Síochána, which is responsible for running operations and is working closely with the PSNI. McEntee announced last month her department would take over the immigration-registration function from the gardaí. 

“We cannot have a loophole where it’s not possible for us as a country to return people under an arrangement that has already been agreed to,” McEntee added.

“This is separate to any other arrangement between the UK and the EU. This is because of the fact that we have a Common Travel Area, because of the fact that we have an open border on this island. So it works both ways.

“I’ve also ensured that we will release at least 100 gardai from desktop duties to make sure that they can work in immigration enforcement as well. So there’s a number of measures that are ongoing.”

She added: “Once this legislation is enacted, and my hope is that it will be enacted in a matter of weeks, we will then have a system where people can effectively be returned. But this is not a panacea. “

This has never been a panacea when we talk about returns. The most effective way that we can have an immigration system that’s firm but fair is having fast processing.”