Potential checkpoints along Northern Ireland border to tackle illegal migration - have your say in our special poll

It's a paradox. That's surely one thing most of us should be able to agree on.

It's fair to suggest that in an ideal world, most people living in the Republic of Ireland wouldn't dare dream of a hardening of the Northern Ireland border.

Be that as it may, people living on this side of the border were thrown a virtual curveball recently when Justice Minister, Helen McEntee claimed more than 80 percent of the people claiming asylum or refugee status in Ireland entered the state via the Northern Ireland border.

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The accuracy of Minister McEntee's claim was immediately questioned by Tanaiste, Micheál Martin.

It has also been suggested that a spike in the numbers of migrants crossing the border into the Republic of Ireland is a direct result of the British government's so-called Rwanda scheme.

In fact, some of those migrants, who up until recently, were living in the UK, and who were to be sent from the UK to Rwanda, have left Britain, travelled to Northern Ireland and on to the Republic of Ireland.

So, with the suggestion that more migrants in the UK could avoid being sent to Rwanda by coming here, it has given rise to the sensitive discussion of the border.

We are asking our readers if they would support permanent checkpoints at or near the Northern Ireland border if it meant a reduction in illegal migration.

It's a discussion some politicians do not want to even entertain but it's a conversation people are having all over the country so don't forget to have your say in our special poll.

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