Passport controls planned between Ireland and the UK

OPENROAD wrote: »

Depends how things are set up, Heathrow has always had a seperate ROI section, at worse you would have two Irish flights landing at the same time, Dublin airport you could have several flights at the same time and so Dublin has been a nightmare for me a few times over the years. While it may be new having to o through the procedure in the UK, we have had to go through this for years entering Dublin.

towel401 wrote: »

England is a ****ing ****hole anyway. now you need a passport before they let you in to buy their overpriced coffee. big deal i don't understand why anyone would want to go there anymore. It has really gone downhill in the last few years, even before the recession started

they have been working on this police state thing for as long as i remember so this doesnt surprise or worry me anymore. every week there will be a new thing they bring in to make it more like a police state

towel401 wrote: »

Lidl's best?

UK shelves Irish passport plan

The government has climbed down over plans to make people show passports when travelling between the UK and the Irish Republic.

There are currently no passport controls for Irish and UK citizens travelling in the Common Travel Area (CTA) between the two countries.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas had said controls should be in place to tighten security.

But the House of Lords voted to remove the clause from a borders bill.

The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill transfers 4,500 HM Revenue and Customs officers to the UK Borders Agency and introduces a requirement for immigrants to earn British citizenship.

Mr Woolas told MPs at the bill's report stage on Tuesday evening that he was accepting amendments from the Tories and Liberal Democrats to remove the passport clause.

He said the government had "listened and compromised" on the bill overall.


It's clear to me from the discussions that we've had that this clause is not acceptable across the floor of this House

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas
"However, there can be no compromise on the option of CTA - we either make this necessary change now or we do not," he added.

"We are committed to the policy and will examine the options forward but it's clear to me from the discussions that we've had that this clause is not acceptable across the floor of this House and is not acceptable in the other place."

A Home Office spokesman said the CTA proposals were important in preventing abuse by "third country nationals" of the UK-Irish border.

He said: "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 Damian Green said he was "delighted" that the clause had been removed.

'Undermined'

He said: "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."

East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson said the scheme would have undermined the rights of people living in Northern Ireland.

"In two ways we'd have been treated differently," said the DUP representative.

"We'd have been treated as if we were foreign nationals travelling into GB and we would have been treated less well when it came to the security that was available for people in Northern Ireland."