UK IMMIGRATION NEWS

Irish passport plan shelved

Monday, 20 July 2009

The UK government has for the time-being abandoned plans requiring UK and Irish nationals to show passports when travelling between the two countries (Common Travel Area – CTA). There are currently no passport controls for nationals of either country travelling within the CTA.

Passport controls had been proposed as part of the larger Borders, Citizenship and Immigration, slated for royal assent by the end of July 2009 and were viewed as a means of tightening border security. Following fierce debate within both the Houses of Lords and Commons, Immigration Minister Mr Phil Woolas, agreed to remove the controversial clause. Opponents had argued that the clause was unworkable and insulting to people travelling between the Republic of Ireland and the UK's Northern Ireland province.

Mr Woolas had previously stated that up to 8000 people per year enter the UK illegally, many of them from surrounding islands with lesser border security. Mr Woolas had argued that:

"The Common Travel Area that defines the border controls or lack thereof is by its nature presenting a risk. It is being exploited by illegal immigrants and serious organised crime."

French authorities also recently broke up a people smuggling ring offering migrants 'club class' travel to small regional airports in the UK from Dublin for up to £10,000 each.

A Home Office spokesperson however qualified this concession by stating that the proposals were important in preventing abuse of the UK-Irish border by 'third country nationals':

"By introducing e-borders to all air and sea routes between these countries, we will be able to check passengers against immigration, crime and terrorism watch-lists and help protect the public from harm…We still intend to pursue these changes, necessary to enhance the security of our borders and we will be looking to bring these proposals back to Parliament at the first possible opportunity."

Shadow Immigration Minister, Mr Damian Green, was said to be delighted at the amendment, stating:

"Conservatives have argued consistently that the Common Travel Area is useful for the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Channel Islands and that the government was wrong in seeking to abolish it."

Mr Green had previously argued that the impact of the passport clause would be limited as there would be no routine immigration checks on the land border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Arguing that the border had remained open even during the worst of the North's republican-unionist troubles, Conservatives had further argued that stricter border controls would alter the constitutional relationship between the UK and its Irish province and dramatically affect income from tourism.

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