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Common Travel Area



In 1997 Ireland changed its immigration legislation to allow immigration officers to examine (i.e. request identity documents from) travellers arriving to the Republic from elsewhere in the Common Travel Area and to refuse them permission to land if they are not entitled to enter the state[17]. Although this is stated to only apply to people other than Irish and British citizens, both of latter groups are effectively covered as they may be required to produce identity documents to prove that they are entitled to the Common Travel Area arrangements. Although it is difficult to be exact about the nature of current border checks - due largely to official reluctance to clearly state the nature of the controls - fixed controls are only maintained at ports and airports[18] while targeted controls are conducted along the land border in what are referred to as "intelligence driven operations".[19]

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The Common Travel Area and the Schengen Area

In 1985 five member states of the then European Economic Community signed an agreement in Schengen in Luxembourg on the gradual dropping of border controls between their respective countries. This agreement provided for the extension of the Benelux Passport Free Zone to France and Germany, broadly speaking, along the same lines as the Common Travel Area albeit one formalised in the form of the Schengen Treaty. Although the treaty was not implemented until 1995, two years later during the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference, all European Union member states except the United Kingdom and Ireland, and two non-member states Norway and Iceland had signed the Schengen Agreement. During those negotiations, which lead to Amsterdam Treaty and the incorporation of Schengen into the main body of European Union law, Britain and Ireland obtained an opt-out affirming their right to maintain systematic passport and immigration controls at their frontiers. If either or both the United Kingdom and Ireland were to join Schengen the Common Travel Area would come to an end. If one were to join without the other, the joining country would have to exercise border controls vis-à-vis the other thus ending the zone. If both were to join all the functions of the area would be subsumed into the Schengen provisions and the Area would cease to have any separate existence.

Britain has always opposed the lowering of its border controls as they believe their island status makes them better able to enforce immigration controls than continental European countries with "extensive and permeable land borders".[20] In contrast, Ireland, while not signing the Schengen Treaty, has always looked more favourably on joining but has not done so in order to maintain the Common Travel Area and its open border with Northern Ireland.[21] (Although somewhat paradoxically, in 1997 Ireland imposed selective identity and immigration controls on anyone arriving from the United Kingdom[17], measures which would not have been permitted if both countries were part of the Schengen Area). This is a position which is reflected in the Schengen opt-out secured by Britain and Ireland in the Amsterdam Treaty. While the protocol applies unconditionally to the United Kingdom, it only applies to Ireland for as long as the Common Travel Area is maintained.[22]

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Future prospects

On 24 October 2007 it was reported that the UK intended to introduce passport checks between Britain and Ireland from 2009 onwards, as part of a proposed electronic border control system, thus putting the future of the Common Travel Area in doubt.[23][24] It is not clear how this will affect the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, or Northern Ireland. The Irish Minister of Justice, Brian Lenihan has said that he believes the Travel Area may in fact be strengthened as the result the adoption of electronic border control system in both countries.[25] The former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, assured Dáil Éireann that there are no plans to introduce passport controls on the land border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.[26] Reaction from Unionists in Northern Ireland was angry. Jim Allister, a former Democratic Unionist and Member of the European Parliament told The Times that it would be "intolerable and preposterous if citizens of the UK had to present a passport to enter another part of the UK".[23]

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References and further reading

  • Bernard Ryan, "The Common Travel Area between Britain and Ireland" (2001) 64 (6) Modern Law Review 855 (pdf)
  • J. M. Evans, "Immigration Act 1971", The Modern Law Review (1972) 35 (5) 508

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Notes

  1. ^ See Ryan. The agreement was also, albeit indirectly, referred to in a Dàil debate on 4 June 1925 (Dáil Debates volume 12 columns 317-318) [1].
  2. ^ by the Aliens Order 1923 (UK),
  3. ^ the Aliens Order 1925 (Ireland) [2] and the Aliens Order 1925 (UK).
  4. ^ by the Aliens Order 1946 (Ireland) [3].
  5. ^ Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, Geoffrey de Freitas, House of Commons Debates volume 478 columns 842-849 (28 July 1950).
  6. ^ House of Commons Debates volume 446 columns 1158-1166 (28 January 1948), volume 463 column 543 (24 March 1948), and volume 478 columns 842-849 (28 July 1959).
  7. ^ in the Aliens Order 1953 (UK).
  8. ^ The existence of the 1952 agreement was conceded in an Irish parliamentary question on 3 June 1980 (Dáil Debates volume 321 column 1379) [4].
  9. ^ In the UK by section 1(3) of the Immigration Act 1971 (as amended) and by Immigration (Control of Entry through the Republic of Ireland) Order 1972 (as amended) and in Ireland by the Aliens Orders 1946 [5] (as amended; in particular by the Aliens (Amendment) Order 1975 [6]).
  10. ^ the Aliens (Exemption) Order 1935 (Ireland) [7]
  11. ^ It excluded a large number of people who were not born in the United Kingdom but whose right to reside in the UK was not restricted by the 1962 legislation. It also excluded from immigration control anyone born in the United Kingdom who were not British citizens. Until 1983 the latter group would only have included the children of diplomats and anyone who had formally renounced his or her citizenship. However after the restriction of Jus soli in Britain by the British Nationality Act 1981 this group expanded to include the children of non-"settled" foreigners. For further information see: British nationality law.
  12. ^ by the Aliens (Exemption) Order 1999 (Ireland) [8] which exempted all (and only) British citizens from immigration control.
  13. ^ The only exception being that between 1962 and 1999 those British citizens born outside the United Kingdom were not exempt. See History
  14. ^ See British nationality law and the Republic of Ireland and Evans.
  15. ^ Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality, Liam Byrne, House of Lords Debates volume 689 Column WS54 (19 Feb 2007) [9]. The matter is further detailed in a report by the BBC [10].
  16. ^ Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office, Mike O'Brien, House of Commons Debates volume 332 column 434-435 (11 June 1999) [11]; D. Wallace, Seanad Debates volume 154 columns 106 (4 February 1998) [12].
  17. ^ a b by the Aliens (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 1997 [13]; M. Wallace, Dáil Debates volume 510 columns 1400-1404 (16 November 1999) [14].
  18. ^ D. Wallace, Seanad Debates volume 154 columns 106 (4 February 1998) [15].
  19. ^ John O'Donoghue, Dáil Debates volume 12 columns 593-594 (12 February 2002) [16].
  20. ^ Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, House of Commons Debates volume 287 columns 433-434 (12 December 1996) [17].
  21. ^ Minister for Justice, Nora Owen, Dáil Debates volume 450 column 1171 (14 March 1995) [18]; Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, Dáil Debates volume 501 column 1506 (9 March 1999)[19]; "Declaration by Ireland on Article 3 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland" attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam.
  22. ^ Article 2 of the "Protocol on the application of certain aspects of Article 7a of the Treaty establishing the European Community to the United Kingdom and to Ireland" attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam.[20]
  23. ^ a b "New border control will abolish free movement between UK and Ireland", Times Online, 2007-10-25. Retrieved on 2007-12-21. 
  24. ^ "Irish will need passports to visit Britain from 2009", Stephen Collins, October 24, 2007 [21]
  25. ^ Today FM radio interview 24 October 2007
  26. ^ "No passport controls between North and South, says Taoiseach" BreakingNews.ie, [22]

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See also

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External links




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