Taoiseach warns hard border would 'injure and impede a lot of basic rights'

It comes after an opinion poll at the weekend suggested that over a third of voters would be in favour of a 'hard border' on the island of Ireland to tackle migration

Taoiseach Micheál Martin speaks at the opening of the Fifth Shared Island Forum in Dublin on Monday. Photo: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has urged caution around opinion polls suggesting that over a third of voters would be in favour of a “hard border” on the island of Ireland to tackle migration.

The Fianna Fáil leader warned that the consequences of such a border would “injure and impede a lot of basic rights”.

The Business Post/Red C poll published last weekend found 36% of respondents said they would agree with a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to prevent asylum seekers who have travelled from the UK crossing the border. Some 41% said they would oppose this.

Up to 36% of Sinn Féin voters said they were in favour of the idea, with 43% against. Amongst Fianna Fáil voters, 52% said they would not support the idea.

At the Shared Island Forum in Dublin on Monday morning, the Taoiseach dismissed the suggestion but indicated that he was not surprised by the findings.

Mr Martin said you “have to be careful of opinion polls”, as he questioned whether people understand what a “hard border means”.

“It’s only when it would manifest itself that you would have a lot of people opposing it, when they would find our movement impeded, and so on like that,” he said.

“But migration is a very hot topic. It’s a very significant issue amongst people. We understand that, so I'm not surprised from that perspective.

“But it would actually injure and impede a lot of basic rights that we take for granted in terms of the common travel area more generally. 

We just have to be mindful of sort of soundbite-y kind of once-off opinion poll questions on what are very complex issues.

Mr Martin said the border is “porous” with people travelling over and back, so “we have to be real about it”.

He also paid tribute to the current UK government for working on legacy issues, despite “coming under pressure from different elements”.

However, he suggested that the European Union could learn more from the peace process in Northern Ireland when it comes to countries which are looking to join the bloc.

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He noted that the western Balkan region is “full of ethnic minorities”, and this has “to certain degrees impeded enlargement” of Europe.

“I just feel maybe Europe hasn't fully exploited the success of the Northern Ireland peace process and the conflict resolution mechanisms that we have deployed here, which have been effective,” he continued.

“Now we've got more to do, don't get me wrong. But I was struck by just talking to other leaders in the western Balkans and observing, even in Ukraine and Hungary, for example, around Hungarian minorities in Ukraine, it's still at a stage way behind where we were in terms of how you resolve issues of language, for example, education for such minorities.

“There's a sense that [in] Ireland, even Europe, that the Irish peace process has been a success. Well done and leave it there. There's a need, really, to bring it back to the mainstream in terms of the lessons to be learned and applied to really significant issues. 

"They're still there and potentially can impede enlargement from some member states.”

• Louise Burne is a political correspondent for the Irish Examiner