REFUGEE CRISIS

Rishi Sunak ‘not interested’ in asylum seeker deal with Ireland as Minister plots to push ahead with new laws

RISHI Sunak says he is “not interested” in agreeing a deal that would see Ireland send asylum seekers back to the UK that have come here via Northern Ireland.

The claim has put Ireland and the UK on a legal collision course amid plans from Justice Minister Helen McEntee to pass laws aimed at enabling the Government to send asylum seekers back to Britain.

Last week, Minister McEntee told the Justice Committee that up to 80 per cent of asylum seekers in Ireland may have entered the country from the UK by crossing the border in the North.

Following Brexit, Ireland designated the UK as a “safe country” which meant that the Government could technically send asylum seekers back to Britain for processing if they came here.

However, in March of this year the High Court ruled that this was unlawful because of the UK Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Minister McEntee says she plans to address this High Court ruling by introducing new legislation that would enable Ireland to send asylum seekers back to the UK.