LAST UPDATE | 30 Apr

JUSTICE MINISTER HELEN McEntee has said “at least 100 gardaí are going to be released from desk job duties” to work on immigration enforcement.

However, a spokesperson from her department has said gardaí will not be assigned to physically police the border and that the work required to make these gardaí available for the frontline duties will take up to 12 months.

Speaking to reporters this morning, McEntee said the redeployment of gardaí is “one of a number of measures that are ongoing” to return asylum seekers who have crossed the border into the Republic from Northern Ireland.

In a statement this afternoon, the Justice Department said that the protection of an open border on the island of Ireland is a “key priority to the communities on both sides”.

However, the Department added: “It is not the case that these Gardaí will be assigned to physically police the border with Northern Ireland.”

Since January 2024, the department has taken on additional functions at Dublin Airport in respect of initial processing of international protection applicants.

This includes carrying out a preliminary interview and fingerprinting of applicants.

The department said it continues to engage with gardaí on the scope to transfer further immigration operations, including the nationwide responsibility of such registrations – expected to be “substantially completed” within 12 months.

A spokesperson said: “This will free up to 100 gardaí to focus on other core policing duties, which will include deportations and other aspects of immigration enforcement.”

It comes amid a growing diplomatic row with the UK over migration, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday saying he is “not interested” in pursuing a deal with Dublin.

Meanwhile, McEntee said she stands by her claim last week that more than 80% of asylum seekers arriving in Ireland have come via the border.

Yesterday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said this figure is “not statistical”.

When questioned on this figure today, McEntee said she “absolutely stands over that figure”.

She added: “What we know, when people do not apply for asylum at our ports of entry, so our airports or our ports, they are applying directly at our (International Protection) offices.

“Through the work of my team in those offices, it’s clear that people who are applying now, and that number has increased significantly, have come through the border, so I have to stand over that figure.

“It has changed over time, like many migratory figures, but what we know now is that over 80% of people who are applying for asylum are applying first at the office, not through the airport, not through the ports.

“So the information from the office is that they’re coming through the border.”

Finance Minister Michael McGrath said McEntee will outline the background of her claim.

“I don’t believe anyone is denying that a very significant number of asylum seekers are coming over the border,” he added.

“The precise number and the interrogation of that is a fair question but I have no doubt the minister will outline the background to the statement at the justice committee in relation to that 80%.

“But that’s an issue, of course, the government will discuss but there is no denying that it is now a very significant factor.”

However, refugee groups have cast doubt on the figure for the proportion of Northern Ireland arrivals while a think tank said a first-time registration rate of approximately 80% at the IPO would not be “unusual” compared with other years.

Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, said: “We don’t know how the Department of Justice came to the 80% figure and, as far as we know, has not published its methodology.

“Just because a person has not applied for protection at an airport or port it does not automatically mean the person has crossed the border from Northern Ireland.”

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) also said that data on IPO presentations alone is not conclusive evidence of the route being used or the reason for applying in Ireland as there are many possible reasons why people might apply inland rather than at the border.

Meanwhile, the Justice Minister insisted that relations between Ireland and the UK are “strong” and denied that a postponement of a meeting between her and British Home Secretary James Cleverly constituted a “snub”.

Cleverly postponed the meeting because of a “genuine diary clash”.

Speaking today, McEntee said the meeting will happen in the coming weeks and added that “we have already spoken about rearranging it”.

“So this is not about anybody snubbing anybody,” said McEntee.

“We are working collectively together and I think this is always the approach that needs to be taken because of our extremely close ties.”

-With additional reporting from Press Association