Ireland is likely to opt for providing funding to Mediterranean countries during migration surges instead of accepting additional arrivals from those regions.
The country will opt that, in situations where so-called “frontline states” such as Greece and Italy begin to receive significant numbers of migrants and asylum seekers, Ireland would contribute to a common migration fund under a solidarity mechanism, rather than taking a certain share of the migrants, which was the other option.
The matter is due to be discussed at a key meeting of EU justice ministers in Brussels, where member states are expected to sign off on elements of the EU Migration Pact.
The EU Migration Pact was first proposed around the time of the 2015 Migrant Crisis, in which Greece and Italy had to initially cope with large numbers of migrants fleeing the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS, with significant numbers of refugees coming across the Mediterranean and landing in a small handful of European States.
The self-stated aim of the Migration Pact is to replace the existing Dublin immigration rules.
It would look to speed up the first round of checks on people arriving at the border, with more thorough security and health assessments, and to overhaul how the State handles the removal of those who are refused asylum.
EU governments are also discussing the idea of setting up processing centres in non-EU countries to manage deportations when someone’s home state will not take them back. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said in recent weeks that the Government is considering whether this kind of system could fit into Ireland’s response.
The proposed changes would expand the situations in which someone can be held while their removal is arranged, and they would allow authorities to send an unsuccessful applicant either to their home country or to a designated safe third country, even without the person’s agreement. At the moment, only about one fifth of people who are refused asylum are actually returned to their home State.
The European Commission now classes Ireland as being under migration pressure, pointing to the ongoing shortage of accommodation for those seeking protection.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has said that more than 1,600 asylum seekers were not offered State accommodation between May and October.