Ireland’s Prime Minister has said that the country’s ‘humanitarian response’ regarding the taking in of Ukrainian refugees trumps all other concerns the country may have regarding the crisis, including those surrounding national security.
When it comes to the ongoing refugee crisis caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, nothing matters more to Ireland — according to the nation’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin — than its open borders “humanitarian response” regarding the taking in of refugees.
This is despite the fact that the UK’s Home Office believes the crisis poses a risk to Britain’s national security, with the country refusing to remove visa requirements for those saying they are fleeing the country.
However — despite the country with access to some of the best intelligence agencies in the world sounding the alarm regarding risks to national security — Ireland’s PM reportedly sees any concerns regarding would-be refugees as secondary to the country’s “humanitarian response”.
Ukrainian refugee crisis: "Our primary impulse is to assist those fleeing war"
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin says the "humanitarian response trumps" any security concerns
#Raworth https://t.co/0ybNwOyuTr pic.twitter.com/2r7sO6yey9— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 13, 2022
“The humanitarian response trumps anything as far as we’re concerned,” Ireland’s premier told BBC News on Sunday in response to a question on whether he had any concerns regarding security.
The Fianna Fáil TD from Cork went on to claim that “obviously” the country was keeping “a monitoring situation in terms of what’s going on”.
However, he did not elaborate much on what such a statement actually meant beyond having authorities receive would-be asylum seekers at the airport.
“We can all see the humanitarian crisis — we do know that can be exploited by certain bad actors,” Martin admitted, but said that Ireland’s security personnel would “keep an eye on that”.
Irish Open-Borders Approach to Ukrainian Refugees a Security Risk for UK – Claim https://t.co/Vn4yuqvUlP
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 9, 2022
Ireland — like the rest of the European Union — has lifted all visa requirements on Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country, putting no hard cap on the number of refugees who can come to the small island nation.
However, the Irish politician’s “sure, it’ll be grand” attitude towards the country’s open border situation stands in stark contrast with authorities in the UK, who have repeatedly warned that security checks on Ukrainians looking to enter Britain must remain in place for reasons to do with national security.
While the nation’s approach to taking in refugees has previously been lambasted for its “lack of humanity”, the country has so far mostly stuck to its guns, insisting that would-be asylum seekers must undergo biometric and security checks before landing on shore.
“…it’s the Home Office that will get the blame if in three or fives’ years time there are problems with those who come,” one anonymous government source previously said regarding the issue. “That’s why the security checks have to be done carefully now.”
“There are some people who would like to dispense with checks altogether and simply to wave people through,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson more recently said. “I do think that is irresponsible.”
“We are going to be as generous as we can possibly be, but we must have checks,” he insisted.
Those within the government reportedly believe that Ireland’s lax attitude to the crisis is putting the UK at risk, thanks to the two nations sharing a common travel area.
“Ireland has basically opened the door to everyone in Ukraine, which creates a problem due to the Common Travel Area,” a government source is reported as saying before referencing how Dublin’s immigration policy had caused serious headaches for Britain in the past.
Despite these concerns, Irish officials have insisted on keeping the border open, regardless of what their neighbour thinks or believes.
“We’re not going to shut the Border,” environment minister Eamon Ryan is reported as saying. “I think the UK government are going to understand this in the same way we understand when it was coming the other way with the pandemic, that the best way is not to shut the Border but to make sure you share information and that gives confidence and security.”
Nevertheless, under the UK’s new Ukraine visa scheme, the number of arrivals will not actually be limited, leaving the UK more exposed to the largest movement of people since the end of the Second World War.
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