Ireland overwhelmed as asylum seekers flee United Kingdom's hardline policies
Rishi Sunak's plan to deport migrants to Rwanda backfires on its neighbour
Behind the wheels of his crane, an Irish contractor is crushing the tents that have piled up on the Grand Canal, one of Dublin’s most emblematic parks. On 30 May, for the third time this month, this driver removed around a hundred of tents from the canal. They were back a few days later.
Ireland is facing an unprecedented surge in asylum seekers entering from Northern Ireland, a direct result of the United Kingdom’s new hardline immigration policies. In Dublin, refugees camps are multiplying, pushing social services to the brink and leaving the state with only bad options.
With UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and restrict appeals, many are seeking refuge in the Republic of Ireland.
One of the compromises reached after Brexit was to maintain an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, mainly for workers and families. Now asylum seekers fleeing the UK are entering Ireland through the unchecked border.
According to a recent statement by Helen McEntee, Ireland’s justice minister, “80% of asylum seekers” are arriving in Dublin via Belfast. However, this figure can’t be verified. Fact Check NI, a team of independent fact checkers in Northern Ireland, writes that McEntee’s claim “is not well supported by evidence — but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be true.”
This influx comes at a time when Ireland is already grappling with a housing crisis and is struggling to accommodate over 80 000 Ukrainian refugees. Asylum seekers, many of whom spent years in the UK navigating a complex asylum process, feel left with no other option.
“I don’t want to go back to Nigeria, and I don’t want to go to Rwanda either,” Christian, a 25-year-old Nigerian, told Politico. “I wanted to be in Britain. I didn’t know anything about Ireland besides Guinness, but I’m finding out.”
The situation in Dublin is particularly bad. The dismantled tent cities around the International Protection Office (also called IPO, the place where asylum seekers submit their applications) are quickly reappearing nearby. Refugees are being moved to temporary accommodation, but the new facilities are already full, so many are choosing to return to sleeping on the streets of Dublin.
“They tell us we don’t have any accommodation for the moment so, we will just wait,” said Kyhber to Euronews. Khyber is from Afghanistan and was also a refugee in the UK. “We don’t know when they will provide us with accommodation, so, at the moment, we just stay in the tents.”
Ireland’s economic recovery continues, with the first quarter of the year showing renewed growth and near full employment. Yet, this positive economic picture is contrasted by a worsening housing crisis: a government housing report leaked by broadcaster RTÉ in May revealed that Ireland has a shortage of up to 256,000 homes.
The lack of affordable housing options, both to rent and to buy, has led to an increase in homelessness and has worsened the social climate, contributing to a sense of unease among the Irish people. Especially when they see their taxes being used to pay for tents that end up being crushed by a crane.
“Inadequate investment in public services and a reliance on the private provision of those services is an important root cause of the increase in public concern regarding asylum-seeking in Ireland,” Camilla Devitt, an assistant professor of sociology at Trinity College Dublin specialising in labour migration, told Euronews.
The far-right rise
So far, the big winners in this mess are the far-right parties — again. Who would have guessed.
“In the context of our worsening housing and cost of living crisis, anti-immigrant actors have weaponised these issues against disadvantaged Irish communities and promoted dangerous misinformation," said Fiona Hurley, CEO of Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre.
Ireland’s politcal campaign saw a surge in anti-immigration sentiment and candidates. The ruling coalition has tightened immigration policies, and seems to benefit from them.
In contrast, Sinn Féin, the main opposition party, is facing declining support due to perceived softness on the issue, which could jeopardise its hopes of leading the next government. Despite this, Sinn Féin’s recent fiasco at the last European election has put them in a position to gain seats — how could they do worse than a single seat at the European Parliament?
In Ireland’s 7 June elections, mainstream parties are being challenged by a surge in far-right groups that are capitalising on anti-immigrant sentiment. Blaming migrants and asylum seekers for the housing crisis, these groups use inflammatory rhetoric and exploit fears with slogans such as “Ireland is full” and “Ireland for the Irish.”
Agitators have stirred hostility to foreigners, said Martin Kenny, a Sinn Féin Dáil deputy who represents Sligo and Leitrim. “They have generated this feeling of fear and hatred towards migrants and anyone who supports migrants. This is a tiny minority of people that fire up another minority. It has become a trend.”
The government's dubious response
How is the Dublin City Council responding to the crisis? With questionable answers. They have destroyed tents (bought with money given to NGOs by the government) and erected fences all around the canals to prevent migrants from putting up new tents — while spoiling one of the most loved park by the residents.
“The fencing-off of the canal seems like the ineffectual effort of a Government, looking rightward over its shoulder at an increasingly extreme anti-migrant movement, to appear “tough on immigration”, says Mark O'Connell in an opinion article for The Irish Times. O’Connell describes the situation as the government’s will “to be seen doing something.”
The Irish government is also cutting funding for Ukrainian refugees who are not working and living in state-provided service accommodation (hotels and the like) from €232 a week to €38.80, affecting 27,000 people. The reduced payments were already cut for all new arrivals in March, but are now being extended to refugees already in Ireland. There are 80,000 Ukrainian refugees in Ireland, down from 100,000 after Russia invaded their country.
Simon Harris, the Taoiseach (head of government in Ireland), said that he did not think that “anyone could argue that if we didn't take these measures that the system would be sustainable into the future.”
Irish officials are demanding the UK take responsibility for those who first sought asylum on British soil. They argue that a 2020 post-Brexit memorandum requires the UK to accept these individuals back into their system. However, the UK government deems this agreement non-binding, leaving Ireland to manage the crisis alone.
Adding to the frustration is the UK’s refusal to cooperate unless France agrees to accept refugees who initially crossed the English Channel. This demand effectively stalls any potential resolution, leaving Ireland to manage a situation largely not of its own making.
Irish authorities are exploring solutions, including accelerating asylum processing times and increasing deportations for those deemed ineligible for asylum. The legality of returning individuals to countries like Nigeria, a significant source of asylum seekers, remains unclear.
While the future remains unclear, one thing is certain: the current crisis exposes the fragility of post-Brexit agreements and the human cost of these increasingly harsh immigration policies.