Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned that “far-right myths” are gaining traction, and said the Government has “a big job to do” to explain the facts around migration as it will be the big issue of 2024.
Speaking to journalists as part of a Christmas roundtable interview, Mr Varadkar also said that he would not characterise recent changes to the offerings for Ukrainian citizens as a hardening of Government immigration policy.
The Government has decided to reduce welfare rates and to limit State accommodation for new arrivals from Ukraine to 90 days.
“What we tried to do is align with what other European countries do, and as other European countries change their offering we thought it appropriate that we should change ours as well,” Mr Varadkar said.
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The Taoiseach said at a citizenship ceremony recently the four biggest nationalities becoming Irish citizens were Indians, Brazilians, Filipinos and people from the UK. “And absolutely nearly everyone I spoke with and met was somebody who came to the country to work either with their UK passport or with a work permit or work visa, has made a real contribution to our society, is working and paying tax and in many cases have become homeowners. That is the real story of migration into Ireland.”
The idea that Ireland has open borders is “absurd”, he said. “I think it’s too easy to make the mistake that international protection or people coming from Ukraine represent the majority of the people that come to Ireland – that’s not the case. We have a big job to do as a Government to talk straight and to be more honest with people and explain to them how migration works, because a lot of the far-right myths are gaining traction. The idea that we have open borders…is absurd, we have an open border with Northern Ireland only, we’ve no other open border.
“The idea that Ireland is somehow a soft touch – that’s nonsense. When it comes to international protection the number of arrivals is about the EU average for the last two years and was well below the EU average for the preceding years. And we do have a rules based system and certainly when it comes to people coming from outside of Europe, the vast majority come with a student visa or work visa because we want them here and because we need them here. They’re making huge contributions to our economy and our society, and I think we’re a better country for it.”
He also said he takes some responsibility for the belief that Ukrainians make up the largest number of immigrants.
“I think we’ve allowed, and I take some responsibility for this, people to believe that the story of migration to Ireland is largely about Ukraine or international protection when it isn’t,” the Taoiseach told reporters. “I think it’s going to be the big issue in 2024; we’re going to have to push back against that as a Government.”
The Taoiseach was also asked what measures the Government could take to control migration.
“I think it’s always important to recognise that there are different forms of migration. Irish citizens migrating to Ireland, 30,000 Irish citizens return home every year. UK citizens come here too. Since independence UK citizens can live here on the same basis as Irish citizens, then there’s migration from the EU.
“EU citizens can come to work, live, study and do business here provided they’re able to look after themselves, at least until the point where they become established. Then there’s people who arrive here with student visas or work visas, and then there are people who come from Ukraine under the temporary protection rules, and then there are people who come here from elsewhere who seek international protection and the rules are all different for everyone and they are applied.”
He said the area of international protection causes the greatest controversy. “The main thing that we’re doing is making sure that applications are processed more quickly. We’ve a list of safe countries, and we’re now getting decisions within three months when it comes to most of the applications from safe countries, so it’s a quicker turnaround in terms of decisions in terms of appeals.”
Mr Varadkar said that when somebody is refused the right to stay in Ireland or breaches the terms of their visa they face potential deportation. “I think this year 700 or 800 deportation orders have been signed, and that’s quite a large number. Most of those people will leave voluntarily, but some have to be removed from the State as well. So they’re the kind of things that we’re doing.”
He said one of the “far-right myths” that has gained the most traction is the idea that international protection applicants are unvetted. “It has always been the case that we register, photograph, and fingerprint applicants for international protection to the extent that some sort of find it a bit demeaning; we’ve always done this and done it for good reasons. And then using that we can then check with Europol against watch lists, for example.
“Maybe we were afraid to talk about that in the past because people might have accused us of being hardline or are engaging in anti-immigrant rhetoric, but I think in order to secure ongoing public support for migration, which we need, we’re going to need to reassure people, that there are rules and our system is rules based, and those rules are enforced and they are to be respected.
“And just as there are people who abuse our tax system, tax dodgers, just as there are people who abuse our welfare system, welfare cheats, there will be people who abuse our migration system. They need to be dealt with, but they’re not the majority of migrants, they are a pretty small minority of migrants, and I think we just need to explain that a bit better.”
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