The Politics Fix

Merrion Street vs Downing Street as very public spat over immigration becomes a gift to the Tories

Your essential end-of-week politics catch-up as rolling controversies at RTÉ look set for a return to centre stage

the politics fix
Operation to move asylum seekers from Mount Street, Dublin this week. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Irish Times
Cormac McQuinn's picture
Cormac McQuinn Political Correspondent
Fri May 03 2024 - 12:20

The Big Story

It has been another week where immigration has dominated the political agenda. Amid concern over the proportion of asylum seekers entering the Republic from Northern Ireland (80 per cent-plus according to Minister for Justice Helen McEntee) the Cabinet last Tuesday approved plans designed to pave the way for such immigrants to be returned to the UK. Never mind that British prime minister Rishi Sunak says the UK won’t take them back. Then on Wednesday there was a major operation to move asylum seekers who had been living in tents outside the International Protection Office on Dublin’s Mount Street. Some 285 men took up alternative accommodation at Citywest and Crooksling. As Kitty Holland and Jennifer Bray report, on Thursday about 100 homeless asylum seekers who turned up to the Mount Street office believing they would get accommodation, were ordered to “disperse and leave” the area immediately on being told they would not get shelter. Senior ministers met at a Cabinet subcommittee the same day where discussions included the possibility of changing planning rules around modular builds may to give the State the ability to build a greater level of rapid builds for international protection applicants as well as Ukrainian refugees. The asylum seeker accommodation crisis has clearly not gone away and is a long way from being solved.

Bust-Up

It has been Merrion Street versus Downing Street as the Irish and British governments engaged in a very public diplomatic spat. Relations have not been great between Dublin and London since Brexit and things soured further with the British government’s Legacy Act. It came into effect this week shutting down historical inquests related to the Troubles. The Irish Government is challenging this law in the European Court of Human Rights. Rishi Sunak and the Conservative party were offered something of a gift when Tánaiste Micheál Martin made remarks linking the number of asylum seekers coming over the Border from the North to the British government’s controversial plans to send immigrants to Rwanda. When the Irish Government flagged plans to change the law to allow asylum seekers entering Ireland from the UK to be returned there, Mr Sunak said Britain would not be accepting returns. Mr Sunak later seized on reports that more gardaí are to be deployed near the Border saying that Ireland must uphold promises to avoid a hard border and avoid setting up checkpoints.

The Tory-leaning Daily Telegraph’s front-page on Thursday was headlined “Ireland sends police to border in migrant row”. The Irish Government rubbished any suggestion that checkpoints were being planned. As Marie O’Halloran reports, Mr Martin also dismissed claims made by Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon in the Dáil that the Government’s “shambolic” approach to migration was a PR boon to the Tory party in their local and general election campaign. On our opinion pages today Stephen Collins writes that the row across the Irish Sea suited Mr Sunak as he was seen to take a swipe at the EU and Ireland in advance of Thursday’s local elections in England. He says it also suited Taoiseach Simon Harris to talk tough to try to show the Irish electorate that something is being done in response to the rapidly rising numbers of asylum seekers arriving here.

Banana Skin

The rolling controversies at RTÉ look set for a return to centre stage if, as is expected, three Government commissioned reports on the broadcaster’s governance, human resources policies and finances are published next week. Barring bombshell new revelations, this in itself is not the banana skin. No, the banana skin is what happens next as the Government has committed to making a decision on how public service broadcasting will be funded into the future. Sales of the €160 TV licence fee have fallen in the wake of the various controversies that have hit RTÉ, including revelations about undisclosed payments to former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy emerged last June. Some in Government like Minister for Media Catherine Martin have been leaning towards direct exchequer funding for public service broadcasting. Others like Minister for Finance Michael McGrath and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe have been resistant to the idea. A new broadcasting charge levied on the public could prove highly unpopular in the lead-up to an election, though if one was brought in you would have to expect it would be less than the current €160 fee. There are tricky times ahead for the Government as it grapples with this one in the coming weeks.

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Winners and Losers

If Mr Sunak thought a dispute with Ireland was going to help him in Thursday’s local election he was mistaken as the Conservative Party is on course for considerable seat losses in councils across England. Keir Starmer’s Labour Party are set to be the clear winners – the only question is the scale of the victor – with the Tories very much languishing in their loser status. Pollsters said early results suggested the Conservative Party could be on course for as many as 500 losses. As of 11.30am today – with 38 of 107 councils reporting – Labour had taken 337 seats, an increase of 54. The Tories had 121, down 128. Mr Sunak’s party was actually behind the Liberal Democrats which was on 123, up 21. The BBC is tracking the results. Mr Starmer hailed an early confirmed victory in the Blackpool South byelection as “seismic”. More results are due in as the day goes on and the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is likely find out if he has been successful in his re-election bid tomorrow.

The Big Read

In the Big Read department of Saturday’s newspaper Political Editor Pat Leahy takes a look at Sinn Féin and its drop in support in recent opinion polls in advance of next months Local and European elections. Jack Horgan-Jones surveys the week that was in immigration from the row between Dublin and London to the Government’s policy responses to one of the biggest challenges it faces and what happens next.

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On the Inside Politics podcast this week, The Irish Times politics team had a good old chat about the upcoming local and European elections. The outcome is difficult to call at this point given the various inconclusive polls of recent times. Kudos to Jennifer Bray though who, in all honesty, was the only one of us brave enough to make some real predictions!

I don’t think Fine Gael will have a great local election result. I think they’ll lose around 40 seats...

—  Jennifer Bray