Half of the public, including a majority of Sinn Féin supporters, want checkpoints on the Border to limit the number of asylum seekers coming from the UK, according to the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll.
There is also strong support here for a ‘Rwanda-style’ policy to deter migrants coming to Ireland, the poll finds.
An overwhelming 82pc of people want immigrants who have come here from Britain through Northern Ireland to be deported back to the UK.
After an intense week, which involved a political and diplomatic row between Ireland and the Conservative government in the UK, concern over immigration has dramatically soared by 15 points here, according to the poll.
The vast majority (72pc) believe Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s assertion that 80pc of recent immigrants have arrived in the Republic, from Britain, via Northern Ireland.
The poll finds 50pc want checkpoints on the Border to deter migrants. This rises to 52pc among Sinn Féin voters.
There is also 40pc support for a policy similar to that planned by the Tories in the UK to deport migrants to Rwanda, with 42pc against such a proposal and 17pc unsure.
Both the Government and Sinn Féin have firmly ruled out checkpoints on the Border and a Rwanda-style policy.
However, the public is divided on the proposed EU Migration and Asylum Pact — 36pc say Ireland should join, 31pc are against, and 33pc are unsure.
Sinn Féin intends to vote No to the Government’s proposal to opt Ireland fully into the EU pact — because, it says, the country must “retain sovereignty” over our immigration system.
As Sinn Féin diverges from the Government on the issue, that party has doubled its lead over Fine Gael in the past month — with Fianna Fáil, which won 27pc of the vote in the last local elections, now facing the prospect of losing up to 100 seats in the local elections next month.
The state of the parties is: Sinn Féin (29pc) up three points; Fine Gael (19pc) down two points; Independents (19pc) up two; Fianna Fáil (16pc) unchanged; Social Democrats (6pc) unchanged; Green Party (4pc) unchanged; Aontú (3pc) down one point; Labour (3pc) unchanged; and Solidarity-PBP (2pc) unchanged.
As an issue of concern, immigration (41pc) is up 15 points in a month, second only to housing (54pc), down five points, and well ahead of healthcare (29pc), down two points, with the cost of living (25pc), also down two points.
In relation to the migration pact, there is strong support for increased screening at borders (71pc) ahead of returning immigrants to “safe countries” (61pc), with payment to other EU and non-EU countries to process refugees (27pc) further behind.
After the Dublin riots last year, Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks polled on concerns over increased immigration versus the rise of the far right.
This month, the findings are completely reversed: increased immigration (55pc) is up 13 points; growth of the far right (43pc) is down 12 points.
by _BornToBeKing_
17 comments
We’ve entered the stupid zone
There are roughly 300 border crossings between NI and RoI. There is 137 in total in the EU’s Eastern border.
This is excluding where the border crosses one lane of a road (Parts of the M1) or when the border crosses through a property or field. It’s an unenforceable border even if there was the political will.
Excuse me whilst I laugh my ass off
would it not make sense to just put boarder posts in the airports, boat terminals etc in northern ireland instead?
The same pollster that claimed both referendums in March were going to win by a 20 point majority
*yawn*
Checkpoints would be a token measure at best. They were next to useless during the troubles & there’s at least 300 crossing points.
Hold this bus… So a majority of Sinn Fein voters want police checkpoints on a border they don’t believe exists. The same border they held protests at over the potential of checkpoints relating to post Brexit arrangements?
Silly season indeed…
Sounds like the questions are poorly phrased – “would like checks on the borders” doesn’t then translate into “abandons GFA” – it’s like asking if you like ice cream and you say “yes” and it’s assumed you mean for dinner
Shock horror that a country wants to take a stance against illegal crossings. They should have their own policies, the EU has failed massively here
The NI border is completely unenforceable – regardless on politics. Surely (assuming GB doesn’t nudge them to NI) some checks in the ferry terminals would solve this?
But I thought we couldn’t have any border controls because it went against our sacred and most holy of texts, the Good Friday Agreement (despite not mentioning borders at all)???
Just shows how braindead the republican position is, and how it amounts to “anything is good if Irish do it, anything is bad if Brtish do it”.
here we go again…
Solution is simple. No asylum seekers sent to Northern Ireland.
I thought the Republic couldn’t possibly bear having border infrastructure of any kind in place, post-Brexit? It would have been contravening the Good Friday Agreement …
Now though, some more brown people have come to Ireland so they want a border. Utter hypocrisy.
This is a stupid, stupid idea. How effective were those checkpoints in the past? Why in the world does anyone think the situation has changed?
The border is too long and porous to control.
If the border were the sea, this problem would be drastically improved.
Ireland’s beloved EU kicked off this migrant crisis, thanks to Mrs Merkel’s open invitation. So step up like good Europeans and take them all in.
Stormont should try and pass emergency legislation and turn the North into a safe haven for immigrants. Anyone with a spare room etc could let them lodge for a while until they get on their feet.
Years and years of negotiations, some of which even led to riots, to avoid a hard border.
All it takes is a little sprinkling of xenophobic panic and now everyone wants a hard border.
It’s simple just do a Rwanda style job and get rid also..