Ireland wants England to take back asylum seekers who entered its territory via Northern Ireland, despite declaring the area "unsafe" because of the Rwanda scheme
An Irish barrister entered into a heated debate on GB News with host Martin Daubney after it was reported this week that Ireland wants England to take back asylum seekers who entered its territory.
In response to this Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "We’re not going to accept returns from the EU via Ireland when the EU doesn’t accept returns back to France, where illegal migrants are coming from."
Speaking to Irish barrister Paul Turner on GB News Martin Daubney said: "Suddenly, when it's going down like a cup of cold sick with the Irish electorate who are sick to the back teeth of it, we've seen protests across Dublin, we've seen arson attacks.
"They simply want to take back control of their borders in the face of an overwhelming public revolt against a very unpopular policy from the leadership.
"They're suddenly acting tough because they know, that elections are coming up in June, European elections and the pro-strong control of borders parties are expected to make safe gains. Suddenly the Irish institution realised they may have backed the wrong horse."
He added: "That's one way of looking at it. It's an entirely reasonable way.
"Another way of looking at it would be that the Irish were only in this position because Rishi Sunak is seeking to undo the 2020 deal, which would have meant that the UK could have taken people back and the 2020 deal was essentially post-Brexit.
"So, Rishi Sunak has scored a point, if you like, by playing tough with the Irish. But why should we take people back from Ireland when we can't send people back to France?
"If these international treaties and obligations exist, surely it must work both ways?"
