Earlier this month, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, outlined significant changes in UK immigration policies, including tightening of visa controls, reduced post-study work rights and a longer route to citizenship, going from five years to ten years. While these are UK domestic decisions, they have a serious impact on us here in the Republic of Ireland, particularly because the UK still occupies part of this island for the moment.

This is what I am asking the Tánaiste. We are hearing reports of asylum seekers crossing into the Republic from Northern Ireland, as stated by the British Government. The British Government has now said that it will not accept returns. This puts a strain on the immigration system here and the challenges of integrating a common travel area, which to my mind risks and undermines North-South co-operation and Border security issues. I ask the Tánaiste to outline the discussions the Government or his Department have had with their counterparts in the United Kingdom on this matter. What practical steps are being taken to protect the common travel area?

I thank Deputy O'Flynn for raising this matter. I assure him that there are structures in place between our Department of Justice and the Home Office in the United Kingdom in terms of the monitoring of the integrity of the common travel area. Obviously, we do not overly discuss all of those matters publicly for obvious reasons, but I can assure the Deputy that there are very good links at official level. I would also say more broadly that the decision taken this week by the UK Government and the EU to have closer co-operation can only be a positive in terms of working together on issues that clearly are global and bigger than any country's borders. We do, therefore, work very closely in this regard. We also have an obligation in terms of our own rules, making sure there is more efficient administration so that, regardless of how people enter our country or seek to enter the country, they get a quicker "Yes" or "No" answer as to whether they have a legal right to be here. That is a very important part of the integrity of our migration system.