Government objects to UK's plan for pre-travel clearance into the North for EU citizens

An anti-Brexit billboard at the border. While the Common Travel Area (CTA) allows Irish and UK citizens free movement North and South, and East and West, it does not apply to EU nationals who have made the island of Ireland their home. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

The Irish Government is concerned and will object to a new British bill seeking EU citizens travelling to the North to pre-register with authorities, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.

Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Varadkar said while the government is clearly unhappy with the new requirements as proposed under the Nationality and Borders Bill, it “doesn’t come as a huge surprise.” 

He said: “We're certainly going to communicate to our UK counterparts our concerns and our objections to this measure. Unfortunately, it doesn't come as a huge surprise.” 

He said part of the argument in favour of Brexit was about controlling their borders, and also about reducing and stopping immigration from the European Union. And this is part of the outworking of that, he said.

“It may be the case that some people who voted for Brexit didn't realise that, but it is part of the outworking of Brexit. The United Kingdom is going to harden its borders and is going to reduce immigration, including from the European Union,” he said.

“But we will absolutely be making our views known,” he stressed. He was responding to concerns raised by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said that his prediction of serious difficulties for EU/EEA citizens living in the Republic who want to travel to or live in Northern Ireland is now sadly becoming a reality.

Mr Kelleher was speaking as the Nationality and Borders Bill was being debated in the British House of Commons.

“In January 2020, I sent a letter to the then Tánaiste, and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney warning the government that major difficulties would be experienced by non-Irish EU citizens post-Brexit living in Northern Ireland.” 

“We now have a disgraceful situation, whereby if this bill is passed, that an EU national in a relationship with someone from Northern Ireland will have to apply for permission to cross the border and visit their partner’s family,” he said.

While the Common Travel Area (CTA) allows Irish and UK citizens free movement North and South, and East and West, it does not apply to EU nationals who have made the island of Ireland their home.

The SDLP’s Member of Parliament for South Belfast, Clare Hanna, has described the UK government as being “fairly drunk on power” in its refusal to accept amendments to a proposal requiring pre-travel clearance for non-EU citizens visiting Northern Ireland.

Under the Nationality and Borders Bill, which has cleared the House of Commons, non-EU citizens will be required to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before entering the UK, including when crossing into Northern Ireland from the Republic.

Ms Hanna told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne Show, that this was another rule that didn't make sense, it would have an impact on tourism and it was going to add another layer of bureaucracy and make things “more complex.” The proposals were “genuinely very problematic and fundamentally unsuitable for the way of life” on the island of Ireland, she added. 

They had not been thought through “like many things to do with Brexit.” While the new measure would not require border checks it would add “a lot of bureaucracy” and legal uncertainty for those wanting to cross the border, she warned.

The new proposal had been “slipped in” by the UK government and would have implications for tourism and businesses as well as everyday cross-border travel, she said.