Helen McEntee meeting with UK Home Secretary postponed amid migrant row

A meeting due to take place between Justice Minister Helen McEntee and the UK Home Secretary James Cleverly has been postponed.

The meeting was due to take place this Monday, April 29, to discuss “strengthening” the Common Travel Area, but was postponed late on Sunday night.

It is understood that the postponement is because of a diary clash on the British side.

In a statement the Department of Justice said that "the minister looks forward to her meeting with the Home Secretary being rescheduled soon."

Ms McEntee has claimed that the number of asylum seekers crossing from Northern Ireland is now “higher than 80%” due to a shift in migration patterns in recent months.

After Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin said the increase could be driven by migrants in fear of being deported to Rwanda, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that showed the UK’s Rwanda plan’s effect.

The plan aims to send asylum seekers to the east African nation to deter others from crossing the English Channel.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said on Sunday that Ireland won’t “provide a loophole” for other countries’ migration “challenges” and said Ireland would draft legislation for a “new returns policy”.

Mr Harris also said that “close” collaboration and cooperation between the British and Irish governments was “not just desirable, but absolutely essential”.

In response, the UK Government rejected any bid by Ireland to return asylum seekers unless France agrees to do the same with boats crossing the Channel.

These exchanges come as 

UK and Irish ministers are due to meet in London amid an escalating row over migrants travelling from the UK to Ireland.

Micheal Martin is to co-chair a meeting of the British Irish Inter-Governmental Conference (BIIGC) in London this Monday with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

It was confirmed that Ms McEntee would not attend the BIIGC and will instead meet senior officials in Dublin.