(Bloomberg) — Irish prime minister Simon Harris is making his first official visit to Belfast in Northern Ireland Friday, amid a dispute that erupted this week between the UK and Ireland over migration.

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He is expected to discuss developments since Northern Ireland’s devolved government was restored and areas of common interest when he meets first and deputy first ministers of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, and Emma Little-Pengelly. The region’s power-sharing executive was restored in February after a two year suspension.

A spokesperson said the focus of the meeting will be on north-south relations. However, given claims by Ireland’s justice minister that 80% of international protection applicants had come from Northern Ireland, immigration is at the forefront of the political agenda in Ireland.

Anglo-Irish relations have been strained since the new premier’s administration appeared to blame UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda plan for an up tick in the number of migrants crossing into the Republic from Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. The numbers on how many are actually crossing the border aren’t yet clear but it has lead to a row over sending asylum-seekers arriving in Ireland from Northern Ireland back to the UK.

However, the issue is an important political touchstone for the leaders on both sides of the Irish sea: Harris wants to appear tough on immigration, a major election issue, while Sunak appears to be using the spat as evidence his Rwanda plan, a key pledge to British voters that vows to deport some migrants to the third country, is working.

As a result of the argument, Ireland has made emergency plans to declare the UK a safe place to return asylum seekers. Rishi Sunak ruled out any deal to accept returned asylum-seekers, unless France accepted theirs.

It’s an example of how fraught the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and European Union can be, even though Sunak regards solving the questions around how Northern Ireland would operate after the vote, and repairing relations with the EU as his big achievements.

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