Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of asylum seekers that have (a) entered the Republic of Ireland by crossing the land border from Northern Ireland and (b) been returned to the UK from the Republic of Ireland at the request of the Irish Government in the most recent period for which figures are available.

In 2020, we agreed operational arrangements which allow for the return and readmission of asylum seekers where this is agreed by both participants. Ireland has not returned anyone to the UK under these arrangements.

The UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from within the Common Travel Area, with no immigration checks being undertaken on the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border. We do not routinely collect data on asylum seekers entering Ireland.