Northern Ireland travel checks
Senator Currie condemned the Commons vote extending nationality and borders provisions to Northern Ireland, warning it would undermine the Good Friday Agreement and create de facto border checks. Senator Ó Donnghaile interjected supportively, and Currie cited CAJ's warning that the measure is unworkable and risks a hard border for non-Irish and non-British citizens.
I am utterly disappointed and concerned, but not surprised, by the vote in the House of Commons last night to reject an amendment that was put forward by the House of Lords to make Northern Ireland exempt from provisions under the nationality and borders Bill, whereby citizens who are not Irish or British will be required to apply online for pre-travel clearance, using something like the US system of electronic travel authorisation, before entering the UK.
We are talking about one of the most cherished features of life on this island post the Good Friday Agreement being utterly undermined. I refer to the free movement of everybody across our island and the invisibility of our Border, not just on the Border, on the road or on the ground but in our minds. This affects tourism, as has been highlighted by the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and in other forums. It affects education, including third level education, family life and healthcare, including emergency healthcare. This undermines all that we aspire to improve through all-island co-operation now and in the future.
Comment on this
People will have to plan their whereabouts with a porous Border. It is utterly out of touch with life on this island. I must acknowledge that checks have been taking place and the number of checks on public transport has increased, which obviously I am not in favour of. How else will this change be enforced? It will affect thousands of people and what will be the punishment?
Comment on this
Representatives of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, CAJ, were before the UK Northern Ireland Affairs Committee during the week. They described the provision as "unworkable and risks a hard border for many non-British and non-Irish citizens in Border communities who have been able to freely cross the Border to date". This underlines the divergence and convergence that have been talked about in terms of Brexit and the direction of travel in which the British Government is bringing us. It undermines the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement. We have discussed this matter at meetings of the British-Irish Parliamentary Association, BIPA, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and with the Department of Foreign Affairs but we need Ministers to continue to be vocal about this huge issue for the whole island.