The Indo Daily: McEntee v Sunak – Ireland’s asylum-seekers row, the worst spat since Brexit

Helen McEntee and Rishi Sunak

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has been engaged in a row with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak. Ireland’s worst diplomatic spat since the Brexit discussions has developed over an increased number of migrants entering the country from Northern Ireland.

The source of the issue? The UK’s increasingly controversial Rwanda plan.

This comes after a statement from Helen McEntee last week suggesting that more than 80pc of asylum-seekers coming into the Republic have done so through the Border, as a way of escaping potential deportation to Rwanda.

A planned meeting between Ms McEntee and her UK counterpart, Home Secretary James Cleverly, was cancelled.

There is no “legal obligation” for the UK to accept the return of asylum-seekers and a spokesperson for Mr Sunak has said Britain is “not going to accept returns” from Ireland.

Ms McEntee said the legislation, which will be enacted in the coming weeks, will allow the State to return people to the UK. “We cannot have a loophole where it's not possible for us as a country to return people under an arrangement that has already been agreed to,” Ms McEntee said.

Today on The Indo Daily, host Ellen Coyne is joined by Gabija Gataveckaite, Political Correspondent with the Irish Independent, and Enda Brady, broadcaster with TRT World, to discuss the unfolding immigration row between Ireland and the UK.