Algeria and Botswana will be added to Ireland’s list of “safe countries” of origin.
The move comes as immigration tops the list of issues getting the attention of voters in the past month, according to public sentiment tracking by Ipsos B&A.
Safe countries are places where generally there is no persecution, torture, inhumane treatment or conflict. It is understood that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee examined conditions in a number of other countries and then decided to add the further two to the existing list.
The designation is part of a memo due to be brought to Cabinet on Tuesday, which will see more asylum seekers go through a fast tracking process.
Debates over Rishi Sunak’s Englishness or Leo Varadkar’s Irishness are deranged
Sinn Féin voters in the Republic and unionist voters in Northern Ireland agree on something
New figures suggest almost a third of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland are now living elsewhere
Germany to set up centralised deportation facilities in bid to tackle migration
The following countries are currently designated as safe countries of origin: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and South Africa.
It comes after a new measure of public sentiment introduced by The Irish Times and Ipsos B&A on Monday revealed that immigration is topping the list of issues grabbing voters’ attention. Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of respondents to the survey cited immigration issues when asked what they had noticed about what the Government had done recently. This is in contrast to last July when immigration was mentioned by just 6 per cent of voters.
The vast majority of immigration comments – 81 per cent – were negative, with just 17 per cent positive and 2 per cent neutral.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here
