Ireland and the United Kingdom step may be attributable to increasing public awareness about the issues faced by asylum seekers and, more generally, by minorities as a whole.53 The UK and Ireland are both facing upcoming changes to their asylum systems. While the two states have an overlapping history of asylum protocol, their proposed changes could not be more different. The UK’s proposed changes would make it harder for individuals to apply for asylum. Ireland, on the other hand, has aimed to better accommodate asylum seekers. Past surveys have shown Ireland and the UK to have similar sentiments around migration and asylum.54 However, these policy changes, in addition to events such as Brexit, suggest a widening difference between the attitudes of the two countries. As the Nationality and Borders Bill continues to develop in the UK parliament and the provisions of the White Paper on Direct Provision begin to be enacted, one will be able to see these changing attitudes take shape.
Niamh Collins, ‘Ireland’s Refugee Deterrence Policies’ (2021) CCJHR Working Paper Series No 12/2021, 1 <www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/law/CCJHRWPSNo12NiamhCollinsRefugeeDeterrencePolici esMarch2021(002)-1.pdf> accessed 1 Mar 2022, 28. 54 Heath and Richards (n 29) 12, 14. 53
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