Ireland may not need to use controversial \u2018return hubs\u2019 for failed asylum seekers due to a fall in the number of people seeking protection in Europe, a Fine Gael MEP has said.<\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n Kelly has said the policy may only be required in the case of a \u201clarge influx\u201d of migration into the EU.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe possibility is there to use it, but I\u2019m not sure whether it is necessary,\u201d Mr Kelly said, speaking to the Irish Examiner in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was interesting that since we brought in the migration and asylum pact, in relation particularly to returns, that the number of illegals coming into the European Union has dropped by, I think, 50%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Return hubs could see asylum seekers who have their application rejected be sent to third country detention centres, while their deportation to their home country is arranged.<\/p>\n
According to Frontex, the EU\u2019s border and coastguard agency, the number of people who have crossed into the EU irregularly has fallen by 37% in the first six months of 2026, compared with the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n
The agency detailed there were over 49,000 crossings detected so far in 2026, with a 71% decline in the number of people arriving via West Africa.<\/p>\n
The Fine Gael MEP for Ireland said the majority of those entering the EU illegally were being brought in by people smugglers, saying they are \u201cexploiting\u201d asylum seekers for their own gain without being interested in their welfare.<\/p>\n
Mr Kelly added: \u201cA point which is being missed, if people are coming illegally, taking up the space and the time and the money and the expertise required to go and vet them, there are probably an awful lot of genuine people who would be entitled to come legally, who are denied, and again, that’s not being looked at.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said return hubs could be required if there was \u201ca big influx\u201d of migration.<\/p>\n
Mr Kelly denied the returns scheme was similar to that of the former UK Government\u2019s Rwanda policy, whereby asylum seekers would be moved to Rwanda for processing and settlement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you can equate it to Rwanda. The European Union would be different to the British government, because they\u2019d have more restrictions, they\u2019d have clearer guidelines, rules that would follow up, accountability,\u201d Mr Kelly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there wasn\u2019t respect for the human dignity and the human rights of people, then I think there\u2019d be a very quick reaction to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as the human cost of people seeking to make it to Europe remains high, with the United Nations Migration Agency outlining there have been at least 990 people killed while crossing the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said the Government has \u201cno immediate plans\u201d to consider the use of return hubs, saying there were instead plans to speed up asylum application decisions.<\/p>\n
Justice minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan said he would not \u201crule out\u201d the use of return hubs, saying he has an \u201copen mind\u201d on the EU measures.<\/p>\n
While Ireland is not currently preparing to use the mechanism, countries like Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy are pushing for the go-ahead to establish return hubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland may not need to use controversial \u2018return hubs\u2019 for failed asylum seekers due to a fall in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,1629,60,43],"class_list":["post-543754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-immigration","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543754","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=543754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}