Fine Gael MEPs say to expect 'more deportations' of asylum seekers from Europe 

The EPP is planning to call for further migration reforms which have been described as similar to Britain’s Rwanda policy. However, all three MEPs rejected the comparison

Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune said overall policy on migration was clearly not working. Picture: Colm Lougheed

Fine Gael MEPs have said the Dublin Convention on migration is not working and to expect "more deportations" of asylum seekers from Europe.

It comes as the EU is preparing for a new migration pact that will see tougher rules applied to arrivals.

The European People’s Party (EPP), of which Fine Gael is a member, has said in the final draft of its manifesto ahead of the European elections  it wants a series of deals with non-EU countries with a view to deporting irregular migrants for asylum processing in “safe” third countries.

The draft advocating a fundamental change in European asylum law will be discussed at the EPP’s annual congress in Bucharest on Wednesday, which Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael MEPs are attending.

The EPP is planning to call for further migration reforms which have been described as similar to the Britain's Rwanda policy. However, all three MEPs rejected the comparison.

Speaking about the Dublin Convention, Fine Gael MEPs Seán Kelly, Deirdre Clune and Frances Fitzgerald agreed “it is clear it hadn't been working well”. 

The convention agreed in Dublin over 20 years ago was that migrants would be returned to the first country in which they arrived in the EU.

The three MEPs said the Dublin Convention had been overtaken by events and was unfair to countries like Greece, Malta and Italy.

They denied, however, that the new migration pact would be a version of Britain's Rwanda policy, as claimed in British newspapers on Wednesday.

Mr Kelly said: "Italy has an agreement with Albania, and there would be other examples of safe countries”, adding: "people who are entitled to assessment of asylum cases, and we try and accommodate them as best we can upholding their fundamental rights".

Safe countries

Ms Fitzgerald said deportations were going to increase, and there would be a continuously updated list of safe countries, to which Georgia has recently been added.

"The big push in Europe and feeling is we ought to have clarity on migration policy, because countries have been a little bit all over the place," said Ms Fitzgerald, who is not seeking to be reelected in the June European Parliament elections.

She said: "That means emphasising the role of Frontex [the European border agency] and keeping up human rights standards, but saying that borders are borders.

We know that people smugglers are always going to try and get people across so we'd like more of a legal basis to address it. That's the reality and it's now about having greater clarity on those who are entitled to asylum.

"Equally, if people don't have the right, and come from a safe country, we should have quicker assessments of those people coming in. I think that's right. So it's about having a model across Europe that we can all sign up to.

"I don't think it's about appealing to the far right or appeasing them, but it is about being fair, particularly the frontline countries, like Italy and Greece."

Ms Clune said while there was an arrangement with some countries, such as Tunisia, overall policy was clearly not working.

Migration pact

There will be a migration pact, with a humane approach and people coming from war-torn areas will be protected, like Ukraine at the moment.

She said: "We definitely need migration in Ireland. We need people to work in our health service, in our hospitality, in the catering and construction.

"But not everybody can come for economic reasons."

Ms Fitzgerald said: "There will be more deportations. I mean that's the reality if you're assessing according to the criteria that we all agree with in terms of who's eligible for asylum, and we've seen economic migrants go the legal route.

Now, it's not easy to say that to people who are desperate but it does mean there will be a greater number of deportations as well.

Mr Kelly said there had to be controls and there are “some people say there should be no controls here, but that doesn't make sense”. 

"If you have people who are irregular or illegal, and you don't make any effort to distinguish between them and the regular or legal, then you're keeping out those who are more deserving.

"You need controls and borders, but you also need to send a signal to the people smugglers. They have been able to exploit the most vulnerable and that has to come to an end," he added.

Ms Fitzgerald added: "We'll be working more with African countries, countries of origin. There are countries we can work with in Africa and the EU is the biggest supplier of aid to Africa, as it happens."