A question I asked Tánaiste Micheál Martin in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday afternoon about borders has caused quite a bit of a stir.

I asked Michael Martin did he think that the UK’s Rwanda Bill was resulting in migrants coming from the UK to Ireland. Mr Martin said it is driving migrants in fear of being deported to Rwanda across the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic. 

Since I asked the question, this has been in the headlines here and in the UK for the past few days. And some British politicians have responded by saying that this shows their Rwanda policy is acting as a deterrent.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Sky News it showed the UK's Rwanda scheme was already working as a deterrent after it finally became law last week “if people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay here, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important”. 

Meanwhile, UK Cabinet Minister David Jones has been even stronger in his response regarding the Irish Governments plans to send migrants back to the UK “If they send them back, they will go back again because there is an open border".

"The Irish cannot have their cake and eat it. They wanted an open border, and they have an open border," he said.

Taoiseach Simon Harris then said today that Ireland will not "provide a loophole" for the migration challenges in other countries. 

Mr Harris said that while every country is entitled to its own migration policy, he does not intend to allow the policies of others to "affect the integrity of our own one. This country will not in any way shape or form provide a loophole for anybody else's migration challenges.”

Asylum seekers crossing the border

Mr Harris' comments come after it emerged 80% of recent asylum seeker arrivals to Ireland came from the UK via the land border with Northern Ireland. However, this was not some new revelation - I reported on The Pat Kenny Show in July 2023 that around 75% of asylum seekers who are arriving here were coming via Northern Ireland.

At the time, through a freedom of information request, I found out that 25% of international protection applicants arrived here through our ports and airports. So how did the other 75% arrive here? Well, it didn’t take a genius to work out that these migrants were not coming to Ireland by teleportation. The only logical explanation was that they were coming via the North.

A source in the Department of Justice confirmed to me at the time that the vast majority of this 75% were coming from across the border after arriving in Belfast by boat or plane. While my own sources in direct provision had been telling me for some time that many of their residents had previously lived in the UK.

But this was last Summer - why are the Irish government only deciding to try and do something about this nine months later? This should have been sorted out months ago. However, now the Irish Government are facing a diplomatic row with their UK counterparts. 

Micheál Martin speaking to reporters after visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. Image via Barry Whyte

And are the Tories simply going to accept migrants being sent back to the UK by the Irish Government? It’s very unlikely. A UK government source said it would not accept any asylum seekers from Ireland without a wider deal with Brussels.

“We won’t accept any asylum returns from the EU via Ireland until the EU accepts that we can send them back to France. We are fully focused on operationalising our Rwanda scheme and will continue working with the French to stop the boats from crossing the channel," they said.

Would border checks between North and South be the answer? I really can’t see that happening. 

Currently if you travel from England, Scotland or Wales to Northern Ireland, or vice versa, you do not need a passport due to the Common Travel Area. Hence why it’s very easy for someone to travel to Belfast and travel on to Dublin to the International Protection Office to make a claim for asylum. 

There’s certainly no easy solution here, however one of way of solving this could be a United Ireland; it would mean that the island would have control of its borders. It may not be the craziest of ideas.