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I’m sure if you look in the small print of the Brexit agreement, or the Northern Ireland Protocol, you will find a clause that reads something like this: “The UK government operates a strict ‘No Returns’ policy.”
The Irish Government, and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, found out all about that over the past 24 hours.
First, McEntee’s meeting with British home secretary James Cleverly was cancelled at short notice. There was, we were told, an unavoidable diary clash. In plain English that was a snub. The very busy Cleverly still had time to post a slick video explaining how the British government’s policy to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda would stop the boats.
It has not been the best seven days of McEntee’s career. At an Oireachtas justice committee meeting last week, she was left floundering when asked by Clare TD Michael McNamara why only three asylum seekers had been transferred from Ireland last year back to the first EU country they landed in.
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At the same meeting, she claimed that 80 per cent of people applying for asylum at the International Protection Office were coming in to the State from the UK via the North. That statement has been repeatedly challenged since she made it. Yesterday Tánaiste Micheál Martin, speaking in London, more or less debunked it by saying that the figure was not based on data.
“It’s not statistical, it’s not a database or evidence base,” he said when asked by The Irish Times in London about the 80 per cent figure.
During the course of the weekend, an anonymous caller made a threat to bomb the family home of the Minister for Justice. That was disgraceful.
On Monday, following Cleverly’s snub, McEntee spent all day working on emergency legislation that would allow asylum seekers who have arrived through Northern Ireland to be transferred back to the UK.
The problem for McEntee is that when the legislation is passed it is not going to make any difference. British prime minister Rishi Sunak and Cleverly have spent the last day crowing that Irish complaints about being inundated with asylum seekers who travel over from Britain was proof positive that their Rwanda policy was working, even before it became operational.
Sunak said yesterday that Britain was not going to take back any asylum seekers who moved to Ireland. He cited the refusal of France to take back those who have taken the precarious journey on tiny unseaworthy boats to Dover from Calais.
Our lead story spells out the latest developments on this issue and the diplomatic row brewing up between both governments.
Re-turn to Sender
If you listen to Joe Duffy’s Liveline, or follow Conor Pope’s reporting of it, you will know that the Re-turn scheme for plastic bottles and cans sold in shops has had “teething problems”.
The scheme is similar to one that was in place for those old enough to remember the 1970s and 1980s, when there was a small deposit charged on bottles that could be recouped when you brought them back. Then, you returned the items to the shopkeeper, who opened the till, and gave you back your 5p.
Nowadays, it is fancy reverse vending machines. In the first month of the scheme there were copious complaints about broken machines, missing logos on bottles and cans, and difficulties getting the machines to accept certain items.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth, will appear before the environment committee today to talk about the progress in achieving a circular economy.
He will have good news to impart. According to his opening statement, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr Smyth will say that the scheme is becoming a success.
“Last Saturday was our most prolific day with 806,000 transactions returning over 2.3 million containers. This is part of a steady and significant increase over the past number of weeks and to date over 70.6 million empty containers have been returned by customers to a deposit value of €12.3 million.”
Smyth has been active. He would need to be. He said that as recently as 2018 Ireland’s circular material use rate was the second worst in the EU at 1.6 per cent compared to an EU average of 11.9 per cent.
A lot done. A lot to do. Where did we hear that one before?
Best Reads
An Bradán Feasa. Among the many dramatic revelations in Fintan O’Toole’s column this week is that his own name is derived from “salmon”.
O’Toole’s column is about salmon this week, or the factors that have led to the catastrophic decline of the species. He recalls a conversation with a veteran salmon smoker who remembers “when the wild salmon were so abundant that local people complained about being fed up eating them. And now she struggles to source them at all.”
Read his fascinating column reeling through 1,000 years of history and culture here.
Olivia Kelly reports that the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan - which aims to reduce the dominance of cars on the city’s streets - will be going ahead this summer despite a late rearguard action by eight Independent councillors to postpone its implementation.
The plan will kick off in August with “bus gates” being put on hubs within the city centre to prevent the through-flow traffic of private cars. That includes on the quays.
An explainer on how Helen McEntee arrived at the 80 per cent figure for asylum applications.
Really interesting article by our colleague Joe Humphreys asking if the infamous “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs” signs actually existed, or were they more of an urban myth.
Jennifer Bray has the latest details on Micheál Martin’s plans to remove the so-called Triple Lock used to govern the deployment of Irish troops abroad.
Playbook
Dáil Éireann
14:00: Leaders’ Questions
16:00: Government Business: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill, 2024 – Second Stage
17:41: Private Members’ Business (Sinn Féin): Motion re Petrol and Diesel Excise Rate Increases
19:43: Parliamentary Questions: Oral – Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman
22:01: Dáil adjourns
Seanad Éireann
15.15: Statements regarding Flooding on Lough Funshinagh
16.45: Research and Innovation Bill, 2024 – Committee Stage (resumed)
Committees
11.00 Environment Committee: Ossian Smyth discusses progress on the circular economy with TDs and Senators.
14.15 Housing Committee: Minister Darragh O’Brien is in to discuss the Planning and Development (Street Furniture Fees) Regulations, 2024.
15.00 Justice: On a topical note, discussing the EU Migration Pact with guests from NGOs including the Irish Refugee Council, Nasc, and the UNHCR.
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