Tóibín on next month’s EU migration pact: “This is a big mistake, because Ireland is unique. It fails to account for our open border with the North.”
Aontú leader Peadar Toíbín says the EU-wide reform – which starts on June 12 – is flawed because it does not consider how 80% of international protection applicants come in from over the border.
Deputy Tóibín said: “The “EU migration pact is bad for Ireland. It outsources decisions on cost and numbers coming here, and locks us into those decisions.
“It does nothing about the 80% of people coming here from Britain through the north. There is nothing in the pact to address this flaw.
“It will do nothing to prevent large numbers of migrants entering during a housing crisis and a shortage of school places, hospital beds and prison overcrowding.
“Aontú believes in a stricter system, a compassionate one that still allows people to enter the country if they are fleeing a war or violence. But there’s no doubt that there’s too much pressure on public services particularly in relation to the supply of houses.”
Tóibín said that while the rules in the pact apply equally to EU states, the Irish situation is unique because the State has an open border with the North which, as part of Britain, is no longer an EU member.
It leaves us legally bound to EU migration quotas, while unprotected from migrant flow from the UK.
The TD added: “The EU Migration Pact does not account for the fact that 80% of the people coming into this country are doing so via the UK and the North.
“The Irish Government needs to negotiate with the government in London to create a notional border to monitor those who enter the island via the North.”
Nearly 60,000 people applied for asylum in Ireland in the last four years. In the years before that, there were about 2,000 to 3,000 applications per year.
