The Government has held discussions in Stormont and Westminster after concerns were raised about the CTA. They intend to intensify immigration checks, which include operations on CTA routes to detect and arrest illegal immigrants.
According to reports, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn stated that Irish authorities had questions to answer as it was revealed that allegedly the suspect of the Monday nights attack entered Ireland at Dublin before making his way to Belfast.
It has been reported that the alleged suspect travelled to Dublin in 2023 and was granted refugee status in Northern Ireland the same year.
The BBC quoted a government source who said the Home Office is intensifying enforcement efforts to "track down, detain, arrest and remove" illegal migrants. They claim that 1,000 illegal migrants have been removed in the past year.
These discussions come after the pressure placed on the UK government by unionist parties to tackle the number of migrants travelling to Northern Ireland through the Republic of Ireland.
The BBC cited government figures which found that since Labour has been in power, there has been 2,682 raids in attempts to "detain and remove" illegal migrants. They found that there has been a 16% increase compared to the final 21 months of the Conservative government.
This news comes shortly after the attack on Monday and the events that occurred after in Belfast. On Monday night, a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder in relation to a knife attack, that was filmed and shared across social media. The footage was shared by multiple far-right channels, encouraging a protest in response to the violent act.
The protests across Belfast quickly turned violent as masked men approached a boarded up house on a residential street near Belfast’s Shankill Road, whilst a woman that is reportedly from an ethnic background was on the top floor. The masked men rushed to the front door and threw bricks at the windows of the house. Reports have stated that a young girl was inside the house during the attack. A man who was wearing a skull mask told people to put their phones away, whilst chaos unfolded and cars were set alight.
Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan held a separate discussion with Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn over the phone.
According to reports, a spokesperson for O'Callaghan said that the discussed the importance of cross-border cooperation to protect the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain.
"At the UK Ireland Summit in March, it was agreed that further steps would be taken to ensure that the Common Travel Area remains secure by working together to expand immigration data sharing arrangements, particularly in preventing abuse of CTA free movement by those not entitled to its benefits," the spokesperson said.
The Common Travel Area is an arrangement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which dates back to 1922 when 26 of Ireland's 32 counties were granted a large degree of independence by the UK. The Common Travel Area means that Irish and British citizens have the same rights in each other's countries, which includes the right to travel, work, live and study.
A statement released by the Irish Department of Justice said that the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland share the same responsibility to protect the Common Travel Area.
The statement said: "It offers great advantages to our people on a social and economic level. The invisible border on the island of Ireland is among the most tangible gains of the peace process and is essential to the continuing normalisation of relationships. At the UK-Ireland Summit in March, it was agreed that further steps would be taken to ensure that the Common Travel Area (CTA) remains secure by working together to expand immigration data-sharing arrangements, particularly to prevent the abuse of CTA free movement by those not entitled to its benefits."
