Taoiseach keeping ‘open mind’ on asylum processing in third countries

The Taoiseach has said he is open to a migration reform that would involve asylum seekers being processed in third countries. The policy has been put forward by the European People’s Party (EPP), of which Simon Harris’s Fine Gael party is a member.

However, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said the Government’s focus should be on domestic immigration measures.

The Taoiseach’s comments at an event in Dublin on Friday morning came as a new camp of homeless asylum seekers emerged in Dublin 4 within hours of a clearance of tents from the Grand Canal on Thursday. Some 109 homeless asylum seekers were offered accommodation following a multi-agency clearance of tents from the Grand Canal on Thursday.

The Ballsbridge camp was removed by Friday evening with all those camping there offered accommodation in Citywest.

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It is understood this followed intervention by gardaí in Donnybrook on Friday amid concerns for their safety after a video was posted online on Thursday night showing the newly-pitched tents.

The small encampment of nine tents was located at the corner of Clyde Road and Wellington Road, on a grassy patch of ground by the footpath, just outside an apartment complex. None of the tents’ occupants were at the scene on Friday morning, though there was evidence of people having slept there, with flip-flops, bottles of water and sleeping bags visible.

It was metres away from former nursing home St Mary’s on Pembroke Park, the use of which to accommodate asylum seeking families faced opposition by some local residents earlier this year. About 200 men, women and children now reside there.

Asked if Fine Gael supports the proposal put forward by the EPP on processing asylum seekers in third countries, Mr Harris said: “I think we should have a very open mind in relation to this because if we’ve learned anything about the migration challenges, that it is a global challenge.

“So much of the migration and immigration that comes to Ireland is through secondary movements. So the idea that we wouldn’t have a composite look at migration, migration policy and law from a European level to me just would seem absurd, and therefore that brings you into the space of looking at the borders of the European Union.

“But I think, of course, it raises questions as to at what point and where you assess people’s application. The Migration Pact does deal with a lot of this. So it’s not simply a matter of the European People’s Party view. This has happened in some cases already within the European Union and Albania, I think Turkey on occasions as well.

“Anything that would have to happen in this space would have to be fully compliant with human rights law and with the European Court of Human Rights as well,” Mr Harris said.

However, making arrangements with other countries to allow people seeking asylum here be processed outside of Ireland is not a step that should be considered, according to the Minister for Children and Immigration Roderic O’Gorman.

When asked separately on Friday if he agreed with comments made by the Taoiseach about keeping an open mind about the use of so called third countries to process asylum seekers, he said the focus had to be on “strengthening our own system”.

He said the UK has been “selling this notion that there’s an other countries solution to the pressures of migration through the Rwanda scheme. It never worked. It’s never delivered. The focus of governments up to this point has been strengthening and growing our own capacity to process people’s applications and get their answer more quickly.”

He declined to say that calls for a third country option should be put on the table were wrong, but instead reiterated that the “focus should be on what we’ve delivered already and what we’re continuing to deliver, which is a better system of processing, a broader system, a system that has the capacity for greater numbers that we’ve seen over the last two years”.

– Additional reporting PA