‘When in doubt, blame Britain’ has, since Brexit, become something of an iron law of Irish politics. So it came as no surprise yesterday to see Michael Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, attribute Ireland’s mounting migration crisis to Britain’s Rwanda scheme.
There’s an obvious appeal for the Irish government to blame the Rwanda scheme, when it is under fire over its poorly handled migration policy
‘It is having a real impact on Ireland now in terms of people being fearful in the UK,’ Mr Martin said, adding: ‘maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.’ Mr Martin claims that migrants are fleeing to Ireland from the UK to avoid being deported to Rwanda. This, in turn, is clogging up Ireland’s immigration system. Mr Martin’s remarks came in response to a claim made by the Irish government that the vast majority (more than 80 per cent) of the asylum applicants arriving in Ireland in recent months, many from Nigeria, have crossed the country’s border with the UK, guaranteed by the UK-EU Brexit treaty.
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