It is a “myth” that the Irish government is encouraging asylum seekers to come to Ireland, and “most people who come to Ireland” for international protection have already “passed through” a European country, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Speaking to reporters in Washington while overseas for St. Patrick’s Day week, the Taoiseach said that the government was taking measures to “help strengthen our borders,” such as providing “much stronger controls in our airports.”
“There is a bit of a myth that somehow the Irish government is encouraging people to come to Ireland to claim asylum or bringing them in,” he said, adding: “That’s not the case.”
“There are 100 million people on the move around the world, and the push factors are poverty, climate change, war – all of those things,” he continued.
“And it’s not a surprise that a very small percentage might make their way to Ireland.”
The Taoiseach further said that the majority of people coming to Ireland have already passed through a safe European country like the UK.
“What we’re seeing now is increasing numbers coming over the border from North to South, which is an open border of course, and that’s a different situation,” he said.
“What we’re doing is working with our European colleagues to strengthen our borders around the European Union. Because most people who come to Ireland to seek international protection have already passed through the United Kingdom or another European country. So they’re the kinds of things that we’re doing.”
However, he stressed that he was not attempting to discourage “genuine refugees” from coming to Ireland if they were in need of assistance.
“I wouldn’t want to create a false impression,” he said.
“We’re not dissuading or discouraging genuine refugees from coming to Ireland if they need international protection – that’s not the case at all.”
The Taoiseach further said that he could foresee asylum claimants having their claims processed outside the EU in another country like Turkey in the near future under the EU’s new Asylum Pact.
“We have to make a decision in the next couple of weeks as to whether we opt into that,” he said.
“And part of the measures that are included in that EU asylum pact is the possibility of processing asylum seekers in third countries. So that would be essentially the European Union coming to agreements with some of the countries that ring the European Union – like in North Africa, or Turkey for example, or the Middle East.”
The Taoiseach said that this would involve agreeing to assist these countries financially, “increase and improve border control,” and also establishing asylum centres in such “transit countries” while the asylum seekers’ claims are being processed.
“We support that approach,” Varadkar said, though he added that it had to be done “in line with the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.”