A POLL showing half the population of Ireland supports migrant checkpoints at the border with Northern Ireland is part of a “policy of distraction,” the Communist Party of Ireland says.

The survey by the Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks found 50 per cent of the country, including a majority of Sinn Fein voters, are in favour of putting in place the checkpoints as a means of limiting the number of asylum-seekers entering from Britain.

The poll also shows 82 per cent of Irish people want immigrants arriving in Ireland from the north of the island to be deported back to Britain.