Last week, the Labour government in Britain announced its intention to reform – again – its asylum system based on the Danish restrictive model. Secondly, the Danish and UK (and now Irish) crisis narratives need to be examined. But the UK asylum figures are still a lot less than those in France, Italy, Germany and Spain. [ Asylum seekers should not view Ireland more favourably than UK, says O’CallaghanOpens in new window ]The EU as a bloc hosted just over one million asylum seekers in 2024. Ciara Smyth is professor in the School of Law and Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway

Source: The Irish Times November 24, 2025 13:31 UTC