UK’S CROSS-BORDER TRAVEL PLAN 'HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC'
CROSS-BORDER services face disruption following the planned introduction of a new travel document by the Conservative and Unionist Party
Non-Irish citizens will need to apply under the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme before being allowed to travel to the North of Ireland. But the planned roll-out of the scheme this year has attracted heavy criticism from a broad spectrum of organisations, from human rights groups to businesses, particularly in the tourism sector.
Now the Dublin government has warned that the ETA "threatens the fluid nature of movement on the Island of Ireland and north-south cooperation including tourism and cross-border service provision".
Loyalist paramilitaries have threatened the peace process and have erected anti-Irish posters targeting The Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar threatening return to violence (read more here)👇👇IMAGE SOURCE/EXTRAMURAL©COPYRIGHT
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"The UK’s plans to establish an ETA-type Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme that would apply to non-Irish residents of Ireland and tourists who wish to travel from south to north are highly problematic," the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a strongly worded statement.
"The impact on tourism in the North of Ireland, for example, could be very significant as many tourists arrive in the North of Ireland via this jurisdiction. The NI Tourism Alliance and Tourism Ireland have articulated the risks very clearly."
The DUP are claiming the NI Protocol required cross-community consent there was no cross-community consent when Brexit was imposed on them after the electorate voted against Brexit. There was no cross-community consent asked for when the DUP voted to impose Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) restrictions between north and south.
The Home Office plans to roll out the ETA over the course of this year with full implementation by its end. On Tuesday night London played down the impact of the ETA on cross-border travel and on communities in the region. Officials claimed it will not be "onerous or burdensome".
The Home Office also said: "There are - and will continue to to be - no routine immigration controls whatever on the Ireland-NI land border, or on journeys within the Common Travel Area."
It comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's latest comments on the post-Brexit protocol are being viewed positively in London. Downing Street, welcoming what it believes is a shift in tone from Dublin, said it had "always felt it was possible to enact the protocol in a way that was flexible".
Here are the 8 DUP MP's who were fed-up listening to over the NI Protocol but who voted with the Tory Party on the Border and Nationality Bill and which now requires non-Irish residents to carry Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) documents that will disrupt NI Tourism
Mr Varadkar, who became taoiseach last month for the second time, recognised that the protocol had made unionists feel separated from the UK and said the EU was "willing to show flexibility and to make compromises".
The Home Office plans full implementation of ETA by the end of this year. It applies to all citizens of countries that do not need a visa to enter the UK. The European Union is introducing its own ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) visa waiver document in November but it applies only in the Schengen travel area, not Ireland. While not all details have yet been worked out, the ETA is likely to be valid for two years once successfully applied for. A government spokesperson added: "Those arriving in the UK, including NI, will need to continue to enter in line with the UK’s immigration framework, and follow Electronic Travel Authorisation rules when introduced.
Ireland has always been full of migrants the Irish people are migrants all over the world. We should not judge others if they choose to settle in Ireland north or south treat migrants as we would choose to be treated if we were migrants in their home country
John McGrillen, chief executive of Tourism NI, said in an interview last week: "There's a little bit of a nonsense."On the one hand the government are saying you're required to have it but on the other hand they're saying no-one will be checking to find out if you have one or not."
Mr McGrillen, believes tourism will suffer despite assurances from London that they are working "to mitigate concerns". "If you think of an agent who has been selling Cork and Kerry for decades, and we've only started to convince these people to start to sell the North of Ireland, the risk is that when they're talking to a client they might suggest to them, 'well, you can save yourself that hassle by just staying south of the border', he said.
"That's one of the key risks."
Transport companies are going to be expected to check and confirm a traveller has the right documentation prior to travel and face penalties for failing to do so, according to the Home Office's own published documents. The fine could be up to £2,000 per person, the NI Affairs committee heard last year.
The DUP and loyalism is doing it's upmost to try and reborder the north and south they are doing their very best to destroy the Good Friday Agreement. All over Brexit which the majority of the electorate in the north voted against. They got their Brexit at a very expensive cost to unionism
The Home Office did not immediately comment on the amount. While the emphasis in the legislation passed last year was on airlines and ferry companies, the onus could land on train and bus firms, tour operators and even taxi companies.
Translink on Tuesday night declined to comment on the potential impact. In its statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs, now led by former taoiseach Micheál Martin, said: "It is welcome that in recent months the Home Office and the NIO have articulated an increased awareness of the complexities such a scheme presents in the context of the North of Ireland and are engaging with us on this matter.
"We will continue to press for exemptions to the UK’s ETA scheme."
With many thanks thanks to the: Irish News and John Breslin for the original story.
Follow these links to find out more on this story: THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol
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