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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's flagship program to send
asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrive in Britain illegally was
approved by parliament earlier this week and the government
wants the first flights to take off in 10-12 weeks.
Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin told The Daily Telegraph
that the policy was already affecting Ireland because people
were "fearful" of staying in Britain.
He said asylum seekers were seeking "to get sanctuary here and
within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being
deported to Rwanda".
The border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United
Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, a European Union member,
is the only land border between the UK and the EU since Britain
left the bloc.
That border is effectively open, with no immigration checks - a
key condition of the deal that took Britain out of the EU in
2020, designed to avoid creating a flashpoint given the island's
sectarian history.
Earlier this week, Ireland's Minister of Justice Helen McEntee
told a parliamentary committee she estimates that more than 80
per cent of people applying for asylum in Ireland are coming
from Britain over the land Border with Northern Ireland.
(Reporting by Graham Fahy; Editing by Kate Holton)
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