The remark is made in the midst of a growing dispute between Dublin and Westminster regarding the Irish government’s proposals for new laws that would allow asylum seekers from Northern Ireland to be deported back to the United Kingdom.
Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee testified before a parliamentary committee last week that more than 80% of recent immigrants to Ireland crossed the land border with Northern Ireland.
Michael Martin, the foreign secretary and deputy prime minister of Ireland, claimed that “fearful” refugees were fleeing to Ireland rather than the UK because of the possibility of being deported to Rwanda.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said that his nation would not offer a way out of anyone else’s immigration difficulties as the dispute grew more intense on Sunday night.
Not only was “close” collaboration and cooperation between the Irish and British administrations desirable, but it was absolutely necessary, he added.
