Asylum seekers in Ireland are furious over a bid to send them back to Northern Ireland, amid chaos in the heart of Dublin centred on a sprawling tent city outside an immigration processing centre.
Stark new images have revealed dozens of tents sprawling through Dublin streets – with UK and Irish ministers embroiled in an escalating row over migrants travelling from the UK to Ireland.
The string of makeshift accommodation, seen stretching around the International Protection Office and continuing along the road, has been dubbed a ‘tent city’ by the Irish Examiner, which reported there are roughly 1,700 homeless asylum seekers currently in Ireland.
MailOnline spoke to one refugee, Abdul, a 24-year-old who spent seven months travelling from Afghanistan to Northern Ireland, who said it was ‘not fair’ that he was forced to travel down to Dublin to avoid being sent to Rwanda.
The married father-of-two told MailOnline outside Dublin’s ‘tent city’: ‘There is a word – humanity. Everyone needs to be a human, we are humans. We have a problem in our country. I got here today from Northern Ireland.’
When asked why he had come down to Ireland, he said: ‘Rwanda – I think this is not good. Our country we are in the bull****- they are trying to apply their policies and rule on us.
The string of makeshift accommodation, seen this morning stretching around the International Protection Office and continuing along the road, has been dubbed a ‘tent city’
Tents housing asylum seekers near to the International Protection Office, in Dublin
MailOnline spoke to one refugee, Abdul, a 24-year-old who spent seven months travelling from Afghanistan to Northern Ireland, who said it was ‘not fair’ that he was forced to travel down to Dublin to avoid being sent to Rwanda
The asylum seeker said he came to Ireland ‘because of UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’.
But Abdul added: ‘The Irish government wants to send [us] back to UK. This is not fair. It took seven months to get from Afghanistan to Northern Ireland – look at my face. You will get the idea how difficult it is.
‘There is a word – humanity. Everyone should be treated as a human.
Speaking about the UK not allowing refugees to return to Northern Ireland, he added: ‘This is also not fair. We need to spend life like normal people spend. We are also humans.
‘We also want to have a normal life, get education or get medical facilities and all these things.
‘This is the reason – everyone knows about Rwanda. The corruptions and the situation is Rwanda – it is a very backward country. There is no facilities.
‘Their people are also crying. We feel better here.
‘I’m married and I have a family there so I need travel documents and all these things. It is important to visit and see my family or take them here. They are also not safe.
People walking past tents housing asylum seekers near to the International Protection Office, in Dublin
Home Office figures show more than 7,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the journey – a new record high for the first four months of a calendar year
‘[I want a] better quality of life – not yet but maybe later. It’s my first day.’
A pair of friends who had also arrived in Dublin from Northern Ireland with suitcases said they were left with no choice because of the fear of being sent to Rwanda.
‘It is not fair, we have had to come here after a week’, one said. ‘We are tired and hungry.’
A group of asylum seekers, including a family with young children, were sent away on a bus after the International Protection Office closed at 4pm.
An Irish pensioner walking past the rows of tents told MailOnline: ‘It’s not just happening in the last couple weeks because of Rwanda this has been going on for a year now.
‘I don’t know how many are down here now sleeping rough.
‘I don’t think we can [legally] send them back to Northern Ireland.
The man, who did not want to be named, continued: ‘The UK are playing a very dodgy game. With this whole Northern Ireland border it’s a big big issue, especially with the IRA. Under no circumstances is there going to be a border there.
‘Because what you’re doing there, the republicans are concerned your dividing the country.
‘For England to say they are not taking them back, that’s a bit of a hot potato.
When asked if most Irish people would want the asylum seekers to be sent back to Northern Ireland, he said: ‘100 per cent. Over here, they have been allocations certain properties to house these guys. It turns out the locals hear about it and the building goes on fire, we’ve had a few of them.
Ireland’s justice minister Helen McEntee last week claimed that the number of asylum seekers crossing from Northern Ireland into the state is now ‘higher than 80%’ following a shift in migration patterns in recent months
Tents housing asylum seekers near to the Office of International Protection, in Dublin
Homeless asylum seekers scrawl messages on the side of their tents
Claims that the majority of asylum seekers entering Ireland had crossed the border from Northern Ireland have been questioned by human rights and refugee organisations
‘For Britain to say they won’t take them back, I don’t know how they are going to get round it.
‘They probably do have a point but they really need to think about the whole Good Friday agreement and border issues.
‘Some of these guys I don’t even know why they are here.
‘Do we want to turn them around and send them back? Yep.’
The tents, packed tightly together with minimal personal space, have no access to sanitary facilities with migrants telling reporters earlier this month they were forced to use an open toilet in the corner of the camp.
A large group of the migrants were moved to another location in south Dublin earlier this month but later returned because the conditions there were reportedly even worse.
Several of their tents sported scrawled messages that read ‘we are not subhuman’ and ‘homes for all’.
It comes as UK Government ministers today flatly rejected Dublin’s demands to take back asylum seekers crossing from Northern Ireland.
The Republic has voiced alarm that large numbers are taking advantage of the invisible border on the island to avoid being deported to Rwanda.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has vowed to pass new laws to facilitate returns of migrants, after the country’s courts declared the UK cannot be classed as ‘safe’ due to the pact with the African state.
However, a spokesman for Rishi Sunak today suggested that the Prime Minister would ignore any new law, saying: ‘Even if Ireland was to pass legislation, it is up to the UK Government to decide who it does or does not accept into the country.
The Republic of Ireland has voiced alarm that large numbers are taking advantage of the invisible border on the island to avoid being deported to Rwanda
Tents are seen housing asylum seekers near to the International Protection Office in Dublin
‘We are not going to start accepting returns from the EU, just as France doesn’t accept returns from the UK.’
The spat comes as Home Office figures show more than 7,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the journey – a new record high for the first four months of a calendar year.
The Republic remains part of the European Union, which has blocked British attempts to resolve the Channel crisis with a returns agreement to France.
In a sign of the rising tensions, Dublin had been talking up a meeting between justice minister Helen McEntee and Home Secretary James Cleverly in London today.
However, Mr Cleverly has stepped aside due to other engagements, and Ms McEntee has now pulled out. As a result foreign minister Micheal Martin hold talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris instead.
Mr Sunak told Sky News yesterday that the developments in Ireland showed that the Rwanda asylum scheme was ‘already having an impact because people are worried about coming here’
People walking past tents housing asylum seekers near to the International Protection Office, in Dublin
Former Cabinet minister David Jones told MailOnline that even if migrants were returned to Belfast they could simply cross into Ireland again due to the century-old Common Travel Area
Mr Heaton-Harris told a press conference that the UK has been told throughout Brexit that immigration was something to be dealt with by ‘the EU as a whole’, not with individual countries.
Mr Sunak told Sky News yesterday that the developments in Ireland showed that the Rwanda asylum scheme was ‘already having an impact because people are worried about coming here’.
In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride underlined Rishi Sunak‘s view that the row shows the Rwanda policy is already working – even though the first flights are months away.
‘We are not in the business of having more illegal migrants in the UK,’ Mr Stride said. ‘What you are seeing now are the early signs of the deterrent effect works.’
Former Cabinet minister David Jones told MailOnline that even if migrants were returned to Belfast they could simply cross into Ireland again due to the century-old Common Travel Area.
‘They may start to understand why we think Rwanda is a good idea,’ Mr Jones said.
An Irish government plan to send asylum seekers back to Britain was met with a point-blank refusal last night. Irish justice minister Helen McEntee (pictured) has said that more than 80 per cent of the country’s asylum seekers now cross the border from Northern Ireland
Rishi Sunak told Sky News the developments in Ireland showed that the Rwanda asylum scheme was ‘already having an impact because people are worried about coming here’
The tents, packed tightly together with minimal personal space, have no access to sanitary facilities with migrants telling reporters earlier this month they were forced to use an open toilet in the corner of the camp
People walking past tents housing asylum seekers near to the European Parliament Liaison Office
Ms McEntee has said that more than 80 per cent of the country’s asylum seekers now cross the border from Northern Ireland.
Last week she vowed to introduce ‘fast processing’ in a bid to deal with the influx of people claiming refuge.
Conservative MPs expressed incredulity at Dublin’s proposals. Sir John Redwood said ‘it takes my breath away’ that Ireland wants a ‘closed border’ with Northern Ireland ‘having said it was crucial to the Good Friday Agreement and to the post-Brexit settlement’.
He added: ‘As Britain has always been told, we cannot send migrants back to France and so how on earth do they think they could send migrants back to the UK?
‘Are they going to arrest these people and put them in handcuffs and take them in vans across the border, and then why wouldn’t they just walk back again?’
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said: ‘There is a certain amount of irony in Ireland seeking to return migrants to the UK who may have originally arrived from France in a Channel crossing.
‘I hope the Irish government will talk to their fellow EU member state about further action to stop people getting on small boats in the first place.
‘Clearly we all need to work together to solve this problem.’
David Davis, ex-Brexit secretary, said: ‘This is a Europe-wide issue and until Europe controls its borders then it’s going to be difficult for any of their constituent countries to do it.
‘But secondly, the issue they are facing has arisen directly as a result of their insistence on a so-called open border between the north and the south. Had they taken some of the other routes that I suggested, for one, then we would have a way of controlling it, but as it stands we don’t.’
Chris Heaton-Harris met with Tánaiste Micheal Martin in London today
Ministers in the republic have pledged to unveil emergency legislation this week which would allow them to return migrants to Northern Ireland following concern over an up-tick in numbers (pictured: migrants in a boat in the Channel)
The British Home Secretary James Cleverly has cancelled a meeting with Ms McEntee, saying that he has a diary clash, with the Government instead being represented today by Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary
An inferno ripped through a 19th Century Georgian country hotel last night in Galway
A Google image of the Ross Lake House Hotel, in Rosscahill, Co.Galwa
Detailing Ireland’s plans, Taoiseach Simon Harris said it would be ‘quite appropriate’ for his country to send asylum seekers back to Northern Ireland.
‘Every country is entitled to have its own migration policy, but I certainly don’t intend to allow anybody else’s migration policy to affect the integrity of our own one,’ he said.
‘This country will not in any way, shape or form provide a loophole for anybody else’s migration challenges. That’s very clear.
‘My colleague, the minister for justice, will now bring forward legislative proposals to the cabinet on Tuesday that will seek to put in place a new returns policy.
‘We’re going to await the full details of that but it’s one which will effectively allow, again, people to be returned to the United Kingdom. And I think that’s quite appropriate. It was always the intention.’
His deputy, Micheal Martin, has pointed the finger at the Rwanda policy, saying that migrants are leaving the UK because they are ‘fearful’ of being sent to the African state.
Last month Ireland’s High Court ruled that due to the Rwanda scheme, Britain should not have been designated a safe place to send asylum seekers back to.
This prompted the British Government to ‘entirely refute’ the court’s conclusion. One Home Office source described it as ‘absolutely absurd’.
Meanwhile, there are fears that the development of the ‘tent city’ on the streets of Dublin could see more violence directed at migrants.
In December an inferno ripped through a 19th Century Georgian country hotel in Galway, hours after protesters gathered outside the Ross Lake House hotel, Rosscahill, amid concerns about migrants in the area.
The elegant hotel had not been used in a number of years, but was due to accommodate 70 asylum seekers prior to the arson attack.
The fire broke out at approximately 11.35pm and nobody was inside the building when it was engulfed in flames.
The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth, for Dublin West, described the incident as a ‘disgraceful act.’