{"id":112272,"date":"2025-10-30T13:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/112272\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:44:07","slug":"taoiseach-backs-tanaistes-comments-on-too-high-number-of-people-migrating-to-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/112272\/","title":{"rendered":"Taoiseach backs T\u00e1naiste\u2019s comments on \u2018too high\u2019 number of people migrating to Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland is experiencing economic migration and people should not come here if they know \u201cdeep down\u201d they won\u2019t be granted international protection, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said. <\/p>\n

The Fianna F\u00e1il leader was speaking after T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> said that the number of people migrating to Ireland was \u201ctoo high\u201d and that it is taking too long for people with no right to be here to leave. <\/p>\n

Asked about Mr Harris\u2019s comments, Mr Martin said that \u201cthe levels of what we might call asylum-seeking has increased significantly since Covid, or before Covid. <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 80 per cent are refused on their first stage of the appeal. And that\u2019s significant because it really points to what you\u2019re looking at here is economic migration, primarily, and basically people shouldn\u2019t come to Ireland if they know deep down that they\u2019re not going [to be granted asylum].\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Today with Claire Byrne<\/a> programme, he said that Ireland should not \u201crule out\u201d sending unsuccessful asylum seekers<\/a> to sites outside the EU<\/a>\u2019s borders while deportation to their home countries is arranged. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we should rule it out, I think this is a broader issue across Europe,\u201d Mr Martin said. \u201cI think these are issues we will examine and then we\u2019re not ruling anything out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Harris said: \u201cOur migration numbers are too high, and I think that is really an issue that needs to be considered in a very serious way by Government. One of the reasons I think they are so high is that there are too many people who come to this country and are told they do not have a right to be here, and it is taking too long for them to leave the country.\u201d <\/p>\n

Earlier, a Social Democrats<\/a> TD accused Mr Harris of \u201cgoing down the Nigel Farage route\u201d following his comments about immigration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gary Gannon<\/a>, the party\u2019s justice and home affairs spokesman, called on Mr Harris to act as a legislator, not a commentator when it comes to the issue of the numbers of migrants coming to Ireland.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Morning Ireland, Mr Gannon said \u201cmaybe he\u2019s going down the Nigel Farage route\u201d, adding that Mr Harris was speaking as if he were not in power. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think if the average punter on the street said that, you would have to say, fair enough, there does seem to be a huge amount of challenges in the system, but this is the second authority of the State, the T\u00e1naiste, at a time when we need calm heads, we need leadership, we need fact-based argument, and he\u2019s effectively just speaking as if he\u2019s a commentator rather than someone who\u2019s supposed to legislate,\u201d said Mr Gannon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he could have also said was their numbers this year have also decreased by 40 per cent on last year. He could have talked about the absolute failures in the system that he\u2019s presided over for 10 years and how he was going to address them. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely lags within the system. People are being caught up within that for years, but that\u2019s a failure of management. We have a management crisis in this country and Simon Harris is fairly much to the fore of responsibility for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Gannon said the comments \u201chave the potential to be inflammatory\u201d in the wake of violent anti-immigration protest in Citywest in Dublin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t add anything substantial to the debate,\u201d said Mr Gannon. \u201cThey don\u2019t talk about the fact that there are people here who have contributed hugely to our country. They don\u2019t talk about how we\u2019re going to address the silos in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same programme, Fine Gael TD Barry Ward said that the T\u00e1naiste\u2019s comments had been \u201cmeasured and absolutely factually correct \u201c.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has identified the fact that we do have massive pressure on our migration system, there\u2019s no disputing that. What we also have is huge investment to that system and we have massively reduced the waiting times for the processing of applications, which makes it easier to deal with people coming here seeking a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ward said that despite the reductions in the waiting times there were still thousands of people coming to Ireland, which led to huge pressure on the system. He acknowledged there were problems with the system, for example with information flows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe is not nearly frank enough with people in local communities about what\u2019s happening. We need to speed up the times, we need to be more effective in terms of when deportation orders have been made, that people are not remaining here for months and months and months, that those orders are given effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Gannon said the T\u00e1naiste should provide leadership. \u201cWhat he offered yesterday is the absence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ward said that if there was to be reasonable debate on the subject, then people, including and TDs, should have the right to express their views.<\/p>\n

Labour MEP Aodh\u00e1n \u00d3 R\u00edord\u00e1in said on Thursday that Mr Harris\u2019s comments on immigration were \u201cdisgraceful and extremely dangerous\u201d and risked legitimising anti-immigrant sentiment. Mr \u00d3 R\u00edord\u00e1in said the Government cannot continue to say \u201cimmigration is a good thing\u201d while using language \u201cthat undermines that message\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese remarks from the T\u00e1naiste are disgraceful and extremely dangerous,\u201d said Mr \u00d3 R\u00edord\u00e1in. \u201cWhen the T\u00e1naiste says \u2018numbers are too high\u2019, it sends a message that the Government itself is buying into divisive rhetoric. It is reckless, harmful and beneath the office he holds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not good enough to issue statements saying that \u2018immigration is good\u2019 while adopting language that undermines that message. People hear the dog-whistle \u2013 and it has real-world consequences for those who have made Ireland their home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland is experiencing economic migration and people should not come here if they know \u201cdeep down\u201d they won\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[68088,42,1629,43,6236,70,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-112272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-gary-gannon","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nigel-farage","13":"tag-simon-harris","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}