The Taoiseach, Simon Harris, was on the Joe Finnegan Show earlier when he said the Government was committed to protecting the common travel area at the border "from abuses".
Last week, the Sunday Independent newspaper reported that 50 migrants were stopped and refused entry to the Republic of Ireland from the North. Mr Harris insisted the Government were not carrying out "border patrols" since an open border between Northern Ireland and the South has been a hard-won advantage of Brexit.
Instead, the Taoiseach said extra gardaí from desk jobs in the immigration department had been moved to work with the PSNI in ensuring that no one is abusing the common travel area between the two states: "So, what Minister McEntee has done is free up 100 gardaí from, let's call it, desk jobs in migration, so that they can work round a range of issues around deportation including closer collaboration with the PSNI," the Taoiseach told Northern Sound and, I think what you're seeing now is the outworking of that," the Taoiseach told Northern Sound, "So, my understanding is there there has been more for example, checks in the common travel area this year so far. That's set to continue to be better resourced but, it's not in the context - and I need to be crystal clear about this - it's not in the context of border patrols. That's not what we do. It's in the context of close collaboration to protect the common travel area from abuse."
