‘We will not be used as a loophole in another country’s immigration challenges.’ Those were the angry words of Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris over the weekend, a further escalation in the war of words between Dublin and Downing Street which have seen diplomatic relations between the two nations reach their lowest point since the darkest days of the fraught and fractious Brexit negotiations.
It’s hard to see an amicable solution being forged between the two governments
The news that the Irish government now plans to change existing legislation to allow them to return illegal immigrants who arrived in the country from the UK is unlikely to see a warming of relations any time soon.
As things stand, the UK is not seen as a ‘safe country’ Ireland can deport immigrants to because of its controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. But such is the fury within the Irish government at recent developments, they want to rewrite existing laws and immediately start deporting immigrants to the UK.
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