Blog 5_ Immigration

One voter commenting on my Immigration proposal asked where I expect the International Protection applicants to go during the 18 month moratorium I have suggested.

First let's quantify the problem. In 2023 there were 13,000 applicants and in 2024 this increased to 21,000, a more than 50% increase. No one expects the 2025 figure to be lower.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau believe that the vast majority of applicants are economic migrants, many of whom are brought here by organised crime groups involved in people smuggling for profit.

Despite the extra resources recently applied to the problem and an accellerated procedure introduced for certain countries of origin, with so many arrivals and few deportations, the backlog grows. It can take up to a year for a first interview in many cases and a further year if there is an appeal, during which more and more applicant accommodation is required. We need a pause of some kind or the situation will become unmanageable with more Coolocks, and more Newtownmountkennedys etc.

Nobody comes here directly from an unsafe country. Since the introduction of Garda checks at the steps of arriving airplanes and the clamp downs at airports abroad, together with changing some visa arrangements, many applicants now arrive here via the UK/NI border in contravention of the Common Travel Area regulations.

So the answer is that, during a moratorium here, I expect that the applicants will simply stay in the UK for longer (Indeed some coming here now already return to the UK when they are only offered tented accommodation). Of course, they will resume coming thereafter but, by then, we should have caught up and be able to process their applications in a fair and timely manner.