The difference between the Common Travel Area and the frictionless border…

There is one, but it would appear that some people don’t understand it. For example Ruth Dudley Edwards at the weekend wrote about how ‘the open border that Dublin insisted on is now allowing asylum seekers to pour into the country’. 

Making everything worse is the unintended consequence of the border. The Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, has had to admit that more than 80% of people applying for asylum in the Republic are pouring over the border from Northern Ireland and she clearly has absolutely no idea what to do about it.

But that’s not the case. As noted on Slugger in comments, the Protocol and all the efforts to deal with the post-Brexit issues have been about goods, not people. 

The Common Travel Area existed long before Brexit was thought of, before the European Union was a thing, before, well, you get the picture.

This is more reminiscent of the problems thrown up by two jurisdictions on the island during the pandemic. 

In any event what is she suggesting? That the movement of people must be controlled between the two parts of the island? But to what purpose? 

Given the CTA exists and there is not a fortified or visible border on this island – a good and necessary thing the latter and a political reality for the foreseeable with regard to the former (and really not a great issue per se in itself), and that this predates Brexit, then surely the issue is with Britain and how it conducts its own immigration policy.

On the broader issue, this struck me as curious: 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he is “not interested” in pursuing a deal with the Government on returning asylum seekers from Ireland to the UK.

Mr Sunak told ITV News: “We’re not interested in that. 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.

“Of course we’re not going to do that.”

Asked whether there were any negotiations with the EU on returns, he said: “No, I’m focused on getting our Rwanda scheme up and running.”

Of course Sunak with locals on Thursday is playing to the gallery. But wait, perhaps a deal on returns already exists?

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has said Ms McEntee decided not to travel to London because she is working in emergency immigration legislation to be brought before a meeting of the Cabinet tomorrow.

“She has a series of engagements with senior officials and I know she’s bringing legislation before the Cabinet tomorrow which will be very important in relation to ensuring that the UK is seen as a safe country,” Minister Catherine Martin said.

“We know that that has been an agreement in place since Brexit in relation to the returns in relation to the UK and Ireland.”