It's 'disappointing' British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is 'taking pleasure' at causing inconvenience for Ireland, Newstalk Breakfast host Shane Coleman has said.

Legislation is to be fast-tracked so migrants arriving here through Northern Ireland can go back to Britain.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee is looking for Government approval for the legislation after her planned talks with the British Home Secretary James Cleverly were called off.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has said Ireland would "not provide a loophole for anybody else's migration challenges".

It comes after comments over the weekend from Mr Sunak that the number of migrants going to Ireland shows the UK's Rwanda policy is 'already having an impact' as a deterrent.

Shane Coleman said he is disappointed at his comments.

"Britain has this policy, I think it's a pretty outrageous policy - I'm not sure it'll work but we'll see," he said.

"I think what I found outrageous though was Rishi Sunak's taking pleasure in the fact that what they were doing was causing inconvenience for another country.

"To me it's just a continuation of what we've seen... you can't but be disappointed in the utterance of the likes of Boris Johnson and other holders of the job in recent years.

"For Rishi Sunak to say that over the weekend I thought was disappointing - it's not the kind of thing you expect from a friendly nation."

🗣️‘Rishi Sunak was playing politics before an election and using us to play politics… it was shabby practice.’ - Shane Coleman on @NTBreakfast

📰Taoiseach Simon Harris has said Ireland will not provide a “loophole” for other countries’ migration challenges. pic.twitter.com/8mITQsMKir

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) April 29, 2024

Shane said he believes the Taoiseach was "well within his rights" to say Ireland would not be a loophole for another nation.

"Rishi Sunak was playing politics before an election, basically, and using us to play politics.

"I just thought it was shabby practice".

'He said the quiet bit out loud'

Presenter Ciara Kelly said she understands the UK's position.

"The UK have acted, as they see it, to tighten their migration policy and fix and harden their borders," she said.

"That will have an impact on people coming here, people going to France, people crossing from Calais and all of that.

"That is the intended impact and he's simply saying that it's working.

"We seem to be surprised: to me, Rishi Sunak just said the quiet bit out loud".

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaving Downing Street in London, 23-11-22. Image: Imageplotter / Alamy

Ciara said she believes other countries in Europe may follow a similar approach.

"I don't believe that Europe ever envisaged the numbers of people who want to come to Europe now," she said.

"Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people and the effect that it is having on Ireland to actually a relatively small extent.

"But on other countries to a much larger extent; if you Italy, Greece, if you look at France.

"Mainland Europe has had a much bigger issue with migration... so I'm not surprised at this," she said.

Ciara added that she is "more surprised" by the reaction of our politicians.

Main image: Shane Coleman presenting Newstalk Breakfast, 29-4-24. Image: Newstalk