The Taoiseach has said that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not raise concerns over Ireland’s open door policy to refugees from Ukraine during a meeting on Saturday.
Micheál Martin met with Mr. Johnson ahead of Ireland’s rugby match with England in London on Saturday.
It has been reported that UK Cabinet ministers have raised concerns over refugees entering the UK from Ireland, due to the Common Travel area between both countries. The UK government has been criticized for not doing enough to take in those fleeing the fighting in Ukraine since this month’s Russian invasion.
Speaking on the BBC Mr. Martin said that Mr. Johnson had praised Ireland for taking in 5,500 Ukrainian refugees to date and added that they “didn’t get into the security issues as such."
“The humanitarian response trumps anything as far as we’re concerned,” Mr. Martin said. “We can all see the humanitarian crisis and we do know that can be exploited by certain bad actors, but we will use our security personnel to keep an eye on that.”
The Taoiseach also said that Ireland will have to look at its military neutrality in the future. “One cannot, in the middle of a crisis, change a long-held policy overnight,” he added.
Last week the Taoiseach confirmed that the UK’s Foreign Secretary Priti Patel had raised concerns with the Irish government over refugees using Ireland as a back door in gaining entry into Britain.
Minister Eamon Ryan said the Republic of Ireland had an open border with the North throughout the Covid pandemic and was not going to change that position due to the arrival of Ukrainian refugees.
“We’re not going to shut the border… 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.”
Meanwhile, because of pressures on food supply due to the war in Ukraine, the Department for Agriculture is drawing up plans to grow more crops in the coming season. Both Ukraine and Russia are major players in the grain, feed and fertilizer trade.
