Midlands-North-West European election candidate Peter Casey has lambasted the fact that “only 50” illegal immigrants were detained last week at the border crossing during the Garda Síochána’s overhyped Operation Sonnet.

“There are hundreds upon hundreds of illegal immigrants crossing the border – with even the government admitting that they expected a further 20,000 of them by the end of the year. Yet Operation Sonnet was only able to stop 50 illegal immigrants last week, which speaks volumes about this inept government’s poor handling of the crisis,” Peter Casey said.

“These illegal immigrants were stopped on the main Belfast to Dublin road and turned back around – but how many decided to later take the Enterprise train to Dublin or drive across into Donegal?

“Operation Sonnet is a bad idea from a bad government who are only paying lip service to the crisis. It’s a smoke and mirrors charade.

“If the Irish government really wanted to resolve this problem in the morning, they should close down to the international protection office so that people can only apply for asylum At the Irish embassy in London

“They should also have Irish soldiers camping on the border, as it would send a clear signal out to bogus asylum seekers that Ireland is not going to be a soft touch.”

The former Dragons’ Den panellist added, “The Irish Defence Forces need to be deployed before the refugees’ crisis spirals further out of control.

“I fear there is going to be a tsunami of asylum seekers in the Midlands-North-West as a result of the recent Belfast High Court decision not to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda.

“These illegal immigrants will be leaving mainland Britain in large numbers to Northern Ireland and will then head south. They will soon realise the beaches are nicer than canals – meaning the Dublin tent crisis will be in Midlands North West shortly.”

The Irish businessman dismissed accusations from political rivals that he is against immigration. He said, “Ireland is crying out for skilled labour. We have a shortage of skilled labour such as medical professionals and tradespeople, for example. We need people who will put their shoulder to the wheel, not economic migrants and certainly not illegal migrants.

“If I am elected in the upcoming election, I will be proposing such common sense approaches to the European Parliament.

“As a strong independent voice, I am asking for your number one vote on Friday, June 7. I will make a difference if elected in the Midlands North West Constituency in June.”