A retrograde step
Which country have we allowed travellers from to enter the UK without passports for about 85 years? The Irish Republic. And now as part of "a so called e-border system in order to track the movements of terrorist suspects, criminals and illegal immigrants" there will be passport checks in place for sea and air arrivals in Great Britain from the Republic, if not on land crossings to Ulster. And, not surprisingly, our Hibernian neighbours are going to engage in a little tit for tat.
Given the utter chaos that masquerades as border control in this country, and the complete absence of terrorism etc being exported from the Republic to Great Britain, I really would have thought that the government would be focusing on more pressing issues rather than messing about with a bit that actually works just fine. And given that there will not be passport checks when crossing by land, presumably anyone with something to hide will drive to Belfast airport or Larne and hop on a plane or a ferry to the mainland. Still, something must (be seen to) be done, I suppose. This tale, note, is on the 'front page' of the main serious newspaper in the Republic, and the second most circulated Irish daily.
And the gratuitous quote from Bevin, "My policy is to be able to take a ticket at Victoria station and go anywhere I damn well please!"
Given the utter chaos that masquerades as border control in this country, and the complete absence of terrorism etc being exported from the Republic to Great Britain, I really would have thought that the government would be focusing on more pressing issues rather than messing about with a bit that actually works just fine. And given that there will not be passport checks when crossing by land, presumably anyone with something to hide will drive to Belfast airport or Larne and hop on a plane or a ferry to the mainland. Still, something must (be seen to) be done, I suppose. This tale, note, is on the 'front page' of the main serious newspaper in the Republic, and the second most circulated Irish daily.
And the gratuitous quote from Bevin, "My policy is to be able to take a ticket at Victoria station and go anywhere I damn well please!"
Labels: Southern Ireland, Transport, Ulster
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 8:47 am.
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That is ridiculous!
A very quick way to irritate the people in Ulster who think of themselves as Irish. I thought the arrangement worked quite well.
[I actually think that we should be in the Schengen agreement too on the grounds of if we must be in this officious club we should at least take the advantages]
Whoops misread the post - land border crossings won't be included which makes it even more stupid.
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