Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been returned to the UK from Ireland since 2016.

Prior to leaving the EU, the UK participated in the Dublin Regulation which allowed us to return third country nationals to other Member States, using the first safe country principle. Our statistics on Dublin III transfers are published online and can be found here: (Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).

Following our departure from the EU, we agreed to an operational arrangement with Ireland which allows for the return and readmission of asylum seekers. Ireland has not returned anyone to the UK under these arrangements.