On 18 March the European Union and Turkey reached a political agreement designed to end the irregular migration from Turkey to the EU in the form of an EU-Turkey Statement agreed by the Heads of State or Government. The Statement sets out a number of actions to target the people smugglers involved in the exploitation of very vulnerable persons and remove the incentive to seek irregular routes to the EU. Under the Statement all new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands as and from 20 March 2016 will be returned to Turkey. For every Syrian person returned to Turkey the EU has agreed to resettle another Syrian person from camps in Turkey to EU Member States.
The need to comply with EU and international law requirements and the principle of non-refoulement was at the heart of the discussions in preparing the joint statement. Accordingly, any irregular migrant coming from Turkey who applies for asylum in Greece will have their application processed on a case by case basis in line with international and EU law. This will be monitored and verified as the action points agreed under the statement proceed. Under the statement there will be no blanket and no automatic returns of asylum seekers. New national legislation has recently been adopted in Greece and in Turkey to support the implementation of the agreement.
EU Member States agreed to provide Greece with the necessary means including border guards, asylum experts and interpreters to implement the arrangement. Four Irish experts have been nominated to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) to support the implementation of the agreement. Two have been selected and have been deployed to Lesvos where they will work under EASO to support the Greek asylum service in the implementation of the admissibility procedure and the performance of vulnerability assessments.
As Ireland is not a member of Frontex there are some limitations on what we can do in relation to the request for the deployment of Border Guards to assist in the return of people from Greece to Turkey. However, my Department is examining the issue in conjunction with An Garda Síochána to see if there is any scope for potential involvement.
