Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín has sought agreement from the British-Irish Interparliamentary Assembly to place immigration on its agenda for this year given the provisional plans from the British government to implement widespread changes to their immigration policy and the impact it may have on the island of Ireland.
Speaking today, the Meath West TD said:
“I am a member of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly’s committee that deals with migration as well as other important issues to both islands, and I have now sought formal engagement to discuss the impacts of migration flows from Ireland to Britain and vice versa.
We know that the majority of people who seek international protection now in the South are coming over the land border, and it is inevitable that more people will use this route coming from Britain should the government there implement stricter rules around asylum.
Aontú remain convinced that an Irish Sea Border for people is the only solution to this growing and changing situation. We must know where people are entering the island from, their destination and where they have been.
We also need to monitor and discuss in a neighbourly fashion how elements of each jurisdiction’s migration policy affects the other, and so I hope that research, discussion and consensus through these types mechanisms can lead to a system that benefits all, and safeguards the rights of those who will use it”.
Furthermore, I have sought a meeting with Mike Tapp MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship to discuss migratory paths and policy impacts.
