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
