Migration reality is biting in Ireland

Iwas trying to work out which event gave me a greater sense of euphoria and contentment – the fall of Humza Yousaf or the birth of my daughter – when suddenly the Irish got themselves into a most terrible paddy and easily eclipsed both for sheer, untrammelled glee.

This is turning into a very good year, although I daresay my permasmirk will be wiped clean towards the end of it. It is rare in politics for policies to have such an immediate effect that one can justifiably say: ‘See? Told you.’ But that is what has happened with the Rwanda stuff. Those who have argued that sending illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda is not a deterrent no longer have a leg to stand on. It is all the more piquant, of course, because the Irish have been clamouring for an open border with Northern Ireland since late June 2016 – so here it is, fill your boots.

Better still, the Irish courts recently decided that the UK is not a safe country to which asylum seekers might be dispatched, on the grounds that we will send them to Africa.