Ireland will not sign up to an international agreement to take a share of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean, and will continue to decide the issue on a case-by-case basis. Their governments have recently refused entry to several ships carrying rescued migrants, a situation which will likely continue until an EU deal is reached to share the burden. The captain of one ship which landed 42 rescued migrants in Italy is currently being prosecuted by the authorities there. DominatedThe topic dominated a meeting of European interior and justice ministers in Helsinki on Thursday, which which was attended by Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan. The Finnish proposals would see rescued migrants being distributed from countries such as Italy and Malta to other EU countries under the direction of the European Commission.

Source: The Irish Times July 19, 2019 00:00 UTC