Ministers criticise Helen McEntee's failure to 'get a grip' on migration issue
Justice Minister Helen McEntee 'hasn't got a grip or a handle of wider migration policy', one minister has said. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/© RollingNews.ie
Ministers have criticised embattled Justice Minister Helen McEntee over her failure to "get a grip" on the migration issue, which has now sparked a standoff with the British government.
Tensions between the British and Irish governments have escalated after UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said he is "not interested" in an asylum seeker returns deal.
As Ms McEntee scrambles to address the numbers of asylum seekers arriving here from the North, she came under criticism from Cabinet colleagues who claimed she has created a wider "credibility issue" for the Government.
"It's unclear what actions were taken in the last 12 months as this situation was becoming more of an issue," one minister said.
Ms McEntee will bring a memo seeking to draft emergency legislation to Cabinet today to stem the flow of migrants from across the border.
A High Court ruling on March 22 said the UK should no longer be considered a safe country due to its Rwanda plan that will see asylum seekers sent to the African country. It has been suggested the Rwanda plan has increased arrivals from the North. However, Ms McEntee is only now seeking permission to draft legislation that would counter this.
It is understood that Ms McEntee intends to appeal certain parts of the High Court judgment, but will also introduce primary legislation to ensure the UK can be classified as a safe country.
As part of this, she will seek permission today to made additions to the Criminal Justice Miscellaneous Bill, with the intention to have this enacted by May.
One senior Cabinet member suggested that the UK response was "taking to a domestic audience", however, they suggested that there would now be efforts to "calm down the rhetoric" from the Irish side.
One senior source said the use of the term "emergency legislation" to "fix an anomaly" thrown up by the court has only further strained relations with the UK. "There is frustration over it," the source said.
Another minister suggested any legislation brought forward will not solve the issue, saying: "This is only restoring a policy that wasn't functioning anyway."
Mr Sunak made it clear that there is no desire in Westminster to accept asylum seekers back from Ireland.
“We’re not going to accept returns from the EU via Ireland when the EU doesn’t accept returns back to France where illegal migrants are coming from," he said. "Of course we’re not going to do that."Â
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Micheál Martin also cast doubts over a claim made by Ms McEntee last week that 80% of people seeking asylum here are now arriving from Northern Ireland.
At the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, from which Ms McEntee pulled out after British home secretary James Cleverly had done so citing a diary clash, Mr Martin said regarding the 80% claim: "Over a while, I think the Department of Justice officials would say — and it’s not statistical, it’s not a database or evidence base — but it is very clear from the presentations of migrants that there’s a change in the nature of where migrants have come from, and that’s the sense and the perspective that Justice have on this."
In a highly unusual move, a spokesperson for Ms McEntee last night issued an embargoed statement almost identical to the one sent to media on Sunday, with no additional information on the memo coming to Cabinet this morning.
"She hasn't got a grip or a handle of wider migration policy, the [Oireachtas] committee appearance exposed that, which has made the last few days particularly difficult for her," one minister said of Ms McEntee.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
