So the UK’s ineptitude is now Southern Ireland’s Issue

Problem is, post Brexit, that the terms of the Good Friday agreement, that brought some peace in NI, are in conflict with having a hard border. Was never resolved in theory, practically people and businesses "Get by".

Practically, the border crosses communities, families and businesses. It is very long and wiggly with villages, farmland, myriads of small roads.

nadateturbe

growstuff

nadateturbe

We are not all Irish. Ireland is an island, not a country.
And the hard border would be a border between the EU and UK.

What about the Good Friday Agreement?

We could have free movement for residents but an EU border.

How would that work?

nadateturbe

growstuff

“We are not all Irish. Ireland is an island, not a country.
And the hard border would be a border between the EU and UK.
What about the Good Friday Agreement?
We could have free movement for residents but an EU border.”

How on earth would that work and which residents?

growstuff

nadateturbe

We are not all Irish. Ireland is an island, not a country.
And the hard border would be a border between the EU and UK.

What about the Good Friday Agreement?

We could have free movement for residents but an EU border.

growstuff

I completely agree. As with all international issues, we need to all work together.

Cossy

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree, Aveline. We pay them handsomely to stop the boats, with little effect - save that now Belgium is also favoured. Will we have to pay the Belgians too?

Yes, you do have a very good point, but I don’t understand why our Gov handed them TWO lots of £££££ when they clearly don’t give a fig about shipping them across, imo.

What the UK should be doing (and probably does already) is have people working undercover in camps and places like Viet Nam to try and catch the smuggling gangs.

Anybody who has read anything about the background and people involved in the smuggling of the 39 Vietnamese who died in Essex must realise how extensive these networks are and how long they've been operating.

Puncturing a few inflatables isn't going to have much effect in the long run and no government has the resources to patrol their beaches every minute of the day. We need to operate internationally and go for the ringleaders - not that trying to stamp out the mafia was totally successful in the long term.

GrannyGravy13

Cossy

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree, Aveline. We pay them handsomely to stop the boats, with little effect - save that now Belgium is also favoured. Will we have to pay the Belgians too?

Yes, you do have a very good point, but I don’t understand why our Gov handed them TWO lots of £££££ when they clearly don’t give a fig about shipping them across, imo.

I imagine one of the reasons that French and now Belgium Border Force patrols are not particularly pro-active in stopping the boats is that they are not appreciative of migrants settling in their countries.

Well, quite! Do you think the UK is? How much effort do you think the UK makes to stop gangs from smuggling asylum seekers from the UK to the ROI?

nadateturbe

We are not all Irish. Ireland is an island, not a country.
And the hard border would be a border between the EU and UK.

Fair enough. My Irish husband and his family don’t see it quite the same way. I didn’t mean EVERYONE living in every part of Ireland now is Irish, but historically they were and I can think of many reasons why people don’t want a hard border.

nadateturbe

We are not all Irish. Ireland is an island, not a country.
And the hard border would be a border between the EU and UK.

What about the Good Friday Agreement?

We are not all Irish. Ireland is an island, not a country.
And the hard border would be a border between the EU and UK.

Cossy

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree, Aveline. We pay them handsomely to stop the boats, with little effect - save that now Belgium is also favoured. Will we have to pay the Belgians too?

Yes, you do have a very good point, but I don’t understand why our Gov handed them TWO lots of £££££ when they clearly don’t give a fig about shipping them across, imo.

I imagine one of the reasons that French and now Belgium Border Force patrols are not particularly pro-active in stopping the boats is that they are not appreciative of migrants settling in their countries.

Desdemona

I am not going to pretend that I understand the ins and outs of what is going on with the refugee situation.

The UK is being overwhelmed, that much is clear. We pay a lot of money to the French but the boats are still piling over here. Some of the refugees are now going to Southern Ireland because apparently they don't want the risk of being sent to Rwanda?

A hard border between Northern and Southern Ireland would stop this - can someone explain to me why this hasn't happened (genuine question.)

As some else stated, the Good Friday agreement, also Ireland is one country and both sides, who are ALL Irish irrespective of what their passports say, are free to travel across the entire country.

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree, Aveline. We pay them handsomely to stop the boats, with little effect - save that now Belgium is also favoured. Will we have to pay the Belgians too?

Yes, you do have a very good point, but I don’t understand why our Gov handed them TWO lots of £££££ when they clearly don’t give a fig about shipping them across, imo.

Pantglas2

Yes in the past I’ve supported the asylum seekers, not dehumanised them, and I still do, however if I was in Southern England, particularly London, I would be extremely angry at the French/Spanish/Italian/Greek Government and the utter ineptitude to “stop the boats” or as most of us would put it, to put a stop to dangerous human traffickers by allowing safe, legal access to Refugees, processing them quickly and efficiently and have a safe means to deport them if they cannot be accepted.

It is a complete sh*t show and now UK also have to take some sort of action.

Macron/Sanchez etc refuses to have any back, even those (& there are some) whose applications are being processed.

When you see the bigger picture it informs your thinking surely?

I agree with you. Every country from the Med to the edge of Europe is (not so secretly) grateful that the asylum seekers move on. That's why the UK has to play its part and co-operate in finding an international solution. The UK happens to be nearly at the edge of Europe, so we don't receive so many as countries on mainland Europe. On the other hand, there's only one country further west where they could pushed towards.

Desdemona

I am not going to pretend that I understand the ins and outs of what is going on with the refugee situation.

The UK is being overwhelmed, that much is clear. We pay a lot of money to the French but the boats are still piling over here. Some of the refugees are now going to Southern Ireland because apparently they don't want the risk of being sent to Rwanda?

A hard border between Northern and Southern Ireland would stop this - can someone explain to me why this hasn't happened (genuine question.)

Good Friday Agreement! (Look it up.)

Aveline

It's France's ineptitude not the UKs

Asylum seekers aren't only coming directly from France. To be perfectly honest, if it were the other way round, I bet the UK wouldn't make too much effort to stop them from moving on somewhere else (which is what seems to be happening in Ireland).

I am not going to pretend that I understand the ins and outs of what is going on with the refugee situation.

The UK is being overwhelmed, that much is clear. We pay a lot of money to the French but the boats are still piling over here. Some of the refugees are now going to Southern Ireland because apparently they don't want the risk of being sent to Rwanda?

A hard border between Northern and Southern Ireland would stop this - can someone explain to me why this hasn't happened (genuine question.)

Yes in the past I’ve supported the asylum seekers, not dehumanised them, and I still do, however if I was in Southern England, particularly London, I would be extremely angry at the French/Spanish/Italian/Greek Government and the utter ineptitude to “stop the boats” or as most of us would put it, to put a stop to dangerous human traffickers by allowing safe, legal access to Refugees, processing them quickly and efficiently and have a safe means to deport them if they cannot be accepted.

It is a complete sh*t show and now UK also have to take some sort of action.

Macron/Sanchez etc refuses to have any back, even those (& there are some) whose applications are being processed.

When you see the bigger picture it informs your thinking surely?

Sunak refuses to have any back, even those (& there are some) whose applications are being processed

I don’t see why we should take them back if they chose to leave. The UK was always seen as the end of the line and asylum seekers have passed through other safe countries to get here. Some have now discovered an uncomplicated route to another English speaking safe haven but it’s not part of the UK so as EU members, Dublin should be sending them back to France if they don’t want them.

I blame the uk for not having I D cards

I agree, Aveline. We pay them handsomely to stop the boats, with little effect - save that now Belgium is also favoured. Will we have to pay the Belgians too?

It's France's ineptitude not the UKs