Asylum seekers who break law should be deported says FF European Parliament candidate 

Lisa Chambers said even refugees who have been granted status should be deported if they commit an 'indictable offence'

Billy Kelleher MEP and Senator Lisa Chambers at the 82nd Fianna Fáil ard fheis. Ms Chambers is on the party's ticket in the European Parliament election in the Midlands-North-West. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews 

Fianna Fáil European election candidate Senator Lisa Chambers has called for asylum seekers who break the law to be deported.

At the Fianna Fáil ard fheis, the Midlands-North-West candidate told reporters that there is nothing preventing the State from deporting asylum seekers who commit crimes. 

“If a blockage arises, we need to address it,” Ms Chambers said.

Anybody that comes into this country, whether they’re seeking asylum or have been granted refugee status, if you break the law you need to be sent back and that’s what the public is asking for.

Pressed on this further, Ms Chambers said that even refugees who have been granted status needed to be deported if they committed an “indictable offence”.

“That’s what we’re hearing on the ground, that people want this taken seriously and if someone comes in and commits a very serious crime, that needs to be looked at," she said.

Ms Chambers said that, on a European level, she did not see a potential challenge to such a policy.

The Mayo senator is currently running for Fianna Fáil in the Midlands-North-West constituency, alongside Laois-Offaly TD Barry Cowen and Donegal senator Niall Blaney.

Barry Cowen TD, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, Barry Andrews MEP, Billy Kelleher MEP, Senator Lisa Chambers, and Senator Niall Blaney at Fianna Fáil's ard fheis. Mr Cowen, Ms Chambers, and Mr Blaney are the party's European Parliament election candidates in Midlands-North-West. Ms Ní Mhurchú is running in Ireland South. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews 

Her comments echo an internal Fianna Fáil policy document on migration, which calls for any asylum seekers to be deported if they commit a crime and to create a specific criminal offence for destroying travel documents when entering the State.

The document was drawn up by Dublin South-West TD John Lahart and also calls for the ending of tents being set up in streets.

Dublin MEP Barry Andrews said that any reforms of Irish migration policy when it comes to criminal offences would need to be done by the Dáil and not carried out in the European Parliament.

Mr Andrews said that the “overall message” was to get the balance right between protecting people who are fleeing a fear of persecution, while also restoring trust in how the Irish State manages migration.

“We have to take the issue away from the far right. They want it to remain an issue on the table to sow social division,” Mr Andrews said.