John Downing: Key points of Ireland-endorsed EU deal on immigration and asylum-seekers

Leo Varadkar attending a European Union leaders summit in Brussels last week. Photo: Reuters

John Downing

It took three years to agree and there are doubts about whether it will work in practice. But dialling down the threat of far-right anti-immigration candidates making gains in European and local council elections in 10 weeks’ time depends on progress in controlling a runaway migration problem.

Here are the main points in the EU migration deal agreed last year and fine-tuned in the intervening months.