Sinn Fein deny stance change on 'open borders' after Mary Lou McDonald said 'there is no such thing'

A Sinn Féin TD said that the party was “opposed to open borders” just 12 weeks after leader Mary Lou McDonald said “there is no such thing” and “Ireland doesn’t have open borders”.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson told the Irish Mirror on Thursday that the two statements are “not mutually exclusive”.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has come under fire from other politicians over a video posted on social media platform X on Wednesday. Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore retweeted the video with the message “more dog whistles”.

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“I’m just about to go into the Oireachtas Justice Committee to discuss the EU Asylum and Migration Pact,” Mr Ó Laoghaire said.

“Sinn Féin as a party is opposed to open borders. We believe in a migration system that is managed, efficient and enforced and where decisions are made at the Irish level, where possible.”

The post accompanying the video read: “Sinn Féin opposes open borders and advocates for a fair, efficient, and enforced immigration system that respects the human rights of those fleeing conflict and persecution.”

Appearing on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme on February 4, 2024, Ms McDonald was asked about immigration.

She was asked if “under a Sinn Féin Government, would we likely see more deportations”.

The Sinn Féin leader said that people whose asylum applications were not successful would “leave the jurisdiction”.

“The rule book needs to be known, transparent, properly resourced, efficiently applied,” she said.

“In circumstances where an application is not successful, well then of course the person leaves the jurisdiction. The State needs to know, needs to have some mechanism to know that that has in fact been the case.

“I hear people talk about this business of open borders. This seems to be a line that is peddled by some.

“There is no such thing. Ireland doesn’t have open borders.

“We have a system that is rules-based, that is based in law. It has to be efficient, it has to be fair. It has to comply with human rights standards, with international law. It also has to be applied.”

Asked by the Irish Mirror if the party’s stance on “open borders” had changed in the period between Ms McDonald and Mr Ó Laoghaire’s comments, a Sinn Féin spokesman disputed that there had been any change in position.

He said: “This is the party’s long-standing position, as set out in our 2020 general election manifesto.

“The two statements you refer to are not mutually exclusive.”

The party’s 2020 manifesto said that “Sinn Féin does not want open borders”.

The party also pointed to an Irish Times article from December that read: “Sinn Féin is ‘not in favour of an open door or open border policy’, the party's Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald told a special conference.”

It continued: “During an immigration debate Ms McDonald said ‘we accept the need to manage migration’, but she stressed ‘there is no room for the cancer of racism in Irish society or in the ranks of republicanism’.”

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