Time for a zero refugee policy? - *Read OP for mod warnings and threadbans - updated 11/5/24*

Sure they couldn't police the border during the troubles with terrorists on both sides freely crossing over and back, how are they going to police this or is just been deployed at the crossing at Dundalk/Drogheda. Also what can they do if someone says they want to claim asylum? Are they going to round them up and hold them in a facility there or are they sending them back across the border?

This decision looks like a government in full on panic mode and trying to so show they are doing something.

More like McEntee has **** the bed, again. Is scrambling now to make it look like she can actually do something. She along with the rest of the department of justice comes across as completely clueless.

The "everyone is welcome" approach needs to stop - time for the hard decisions to actually be made.

No disrespect, but I think you are incredibly naive. I think we are a great solution for both the UK and mainland Europe as Goverments look to stem the rise of the far right ahead of elections. We are about to get a very tough lesson. Migrants can literally be funneled off the continent, up through the UK over to the North and into the ROI.

Geographically we are perfect and may end up harbouring all of Europe's excess migrants.

Pure speculation but I feel non contribution to NATO and Europe's green eye at our tax policy has a part to play in all this. Add a lashing of our justified stance on Israel.

I don't expect much support from Europe tbh. Grim, I think I'll close the laptop early today and head for the pub.

We are a great solution for the UK and mainland Europe, we are the end of the line, the next stop after us is the US, so they can just funnel the migrants this way and we then have to deal with it. We need to start making this a less attractive destination for illegal migrants. If this means we set up Mosney style camps as IPAS centres and then have a quick turn around in processing the applications and strict deportation process, none of this voluntary deportation or leave to remain BS. Once your application fails you are gone.

One question that gets asked on here where do you deport them too? Well they can have 2 choices, return to their country of origin or we strike a similar Rwanda deal and anyone that application fails we deport them there and from there the applicants can decide what to do. We have a lot pull factors attracting migrants, now we need to create a lot of push factors as well.

That seems an exaggeration from him. Although arrivals into the state in Q1 are a bit up on last year, it's definitely not double the numbers from 2023.

I read about 5,100 Jan to March. So 25k including a spike in the summer seems reasonable.

And thats before the Rwanda factor.

Who knows, but thats a different question.

My point was that they are likley to gain ground with the suggestion, when you consider the mood of the nation on the subject.

What we need is a policy where any airlines flying (and ferries, Eurostar) into UK and Ireland takes the passports off the non EU and UK passengers on boarding at the gate and hand them to immigration desk on arrival

failure to do so be fined at one million euro per paperless refugee

What is interesting is this development with the Rwanda/UK issue is that it's the first time the govt has mobilised a response towards restricting the number of asylum seekers coming into the country.

Is this a watershed moment?

I am not sure about that, but the govt do seem to have acknowledged that some restrictions are required. And once you acknowledge that, its difficult to go full open border again without appearing hypocritical or contradictory.

which is why this needs to be done at departure gate where tickets are already checked, and passports of non UK, EU, US (insert other civilised countries here) are taken by boarding staff and handed straight to immigration desk at destination

Plus extreme fines for airlines for not policing documents which they should be doing

Yeah but the problem I have with this view is that any system which allows any form of international travel or migration will always be open to abuse. The very existence of it is the basis for the abuse — and so it will always be abused in some shape or form. Vote in a right wing government tomorrow and I'd put the house on the likelihood that people would still be on this forum bemoaning the broken promises when the easy fixes prove to be not so easy fixes.

There is just is never going to be an answer to this. Immigration will be discussed and decried for the rest of our lives and, long after we are dead and gone, the Ireland-born descendants of Ukrainian refugees and other immigrants will also be decrying the latest example of non-Ireland born people coming over here etc.

Very little details at the moment

Countries like France, Germany, Italy and Spain are receiving hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers (each) every year. It's simply not true that they are all heading to Ireland:

"In 2023, Germany received a quarter (25%) of asylum applications in the EU, followed by:

• France (16%)
• Spain (12%)
• Austria (11%)
• Italy (9%)

These five EU member states together received almost three quarters of all first-time asylum applications in the EU."

To keep things in perspective, Germany had 350,000 applications in 2023. We have had 5000 so far this year.

What about forwarding mandatory API (Advanced Passenger Information) to the destination airport/ferryport immigration desk? Losing your passport or destroying it is redundant then.

Every airline ticket I have bought requires me to insert my passport details so that information must be held somewhere. Any Data Protection issues can be amended by specific legislation surely.

Something tells me this can't be done for DP reasons, but why collect it in the first place?