Statement by TUV chairman Cusher councillor Keith Ratcliffe:
“The report from the Garda Commissioner to the Republic’s policing authority on the return of illegal migrants to Belfast and Holyhead raises major questions both for Dublin and our own Home Office.
“How is it that the Republic’s position throughout the Brexit process has been that the border with Northern Ireland must be regarded as meaningless and yet it suddenly becomes important when illegal migrants cross it? It is rank hypocrisy for Dublin to refuse to recognise the internal border with the UK when it comes to goods and yet insist upon it when it comes to migration but that is exactly what has happened in recent times.
“It is outrageous that the Home Office has connived with the Garda’s immigration team on this, conducting as they have a joint operation.
“How does this square with the Prime Minister’s claim that the UK would not accept returns from the EU?
“With this week’s judgement confirming that Northern Ireland is a soft touch in relation to migration, we now face the very real prospect of illegal migrants being able to come to this part of the UK without any fear of deportation.
“We’ve even had one senior politician in the Republic, Fianna Fáil Justice spokesperson Jim O’Callaghan, suggest that there is “nothing to stop Ireland from designating Northern Ireland as a safe third country to where asylum seekers could be returned”.
“The people of Northern Ireland were lied to when the DUP sold us a deal which promised that we wouldn’t be treated differently when it came to migration (an explicit commitment in Safeguarding the Union). We have also been mislead Whitehall claims that illegal migrants would be returned to the EU when in actual fact our own Home Office was working with the Garda to send them to Belfast and Liverpool. Such dishonesty and double standards are causing huge resentment.
““Northern Ireland should not be a dumping ground for illegal migrants yet it appears that we are being treated as exactly that!”