Asylum seekers in 'tent city' furious at 'unfair' Rwanda plan forcing them to leave UK

Asylum seekers in Ireland are enraged over a plan to move them back to Northern Ireland, as Dublin descends into chaos with the emergence of “tent city” outside the immigration processing centre.

Startling new pictures reveal a pop-up community lining Dublin’s streets, with British and Irish ministers facing off in a row over migration that is threatening to escalate.

According to the Irish Examiner, which coined the phrase “tent city”, there are approximately 1,700 homeless asylum seekers in Ireland.

The reason for the explosion in asylum seekers crossing the Irish Sea is disputed. MailOnline reported that migrants claimed their fear about being deported to Rwanda meant they had no choice but to cross out of the UK from Northern Ireland, into the Republic.

However, locals have said that they’ve been contending with asylum seekers sleeping rough in the streets for a year.

One 24-year-old refugee, Abdul, who told the publication it took him seven months to travel from Afghanistan to Northern Ireland, said it was “not fair” that he had to travel on to Dublin to avoid being shipped off to Rwanda.

The married dad-of-two told MailOnline: “There is a word - humanity. Everyone needs to be a human, we are humans. We have a problem in our country. I got here today from Northern Ireland.”

Pushed on why he had travelled to Ireland, he said: “Rwanda - I think this is not good. Our country we are in the bull****- they are trying to apply their policies and rule on us.

He added that he was in Ireland “because of UK prime minister Rishi Sunak”.

The Afghan father went on to say he and his family just wanted a “normal life” where he could access “medical facilities and all these things”.

He went on to express concern about the “corruptions” in Rwanda, branding it “a very backward country”.

Two friends lugging suitcases, who had arrived in Dublin from Northern Ireland that day said they too had crossed into the Republic out of fear of deportation to Rwanda.

One of them told the publication: “It is not fair, we have had to come here after a week. We are tired and hungry.”

However, despite the accounts given by asylum seekers, locals don’t believe the “tent city” has sprung up exclusively because of the Rwanda plan.

An Irish pensioner told MailOnline outside the row of tents: “It's not just happening in the last couple weeks because of Rwanda this has been going on for a year now.

“I don't know how many are down here now sleeping rough. I don't think we can [legally] send them back to Northern Ireland.”

The man, who did not want to be named, accused the UK of “playing a very dodgy game” adding that “it's a big big issue, especially with the IRA”.

He went on to say that Irish people “100 percent” wanted the asylum seekers taken back over the border.

The row comes as UK ministers bluntly rejected Dublin’s demands to take back asylum seekers crossing from Northern Ireland.

The country’s new Taoiseach Simon Harris has pledged to pass new laws to return the migrants after Irish judges declared the UK cannot be seen as “safe” due to the Rwanda policy.

But a spokesman for Rishi Sunak suggested that the Prime Minister would ignore any new law, saying: “Even if Ireland was to pass legislation, it is up to the UK Government to decide who it does or does not accept into the country.

“We are not going to start accepting returns from the EU, just as France doesn't accept returns from the UK.”