Show Passports between UK and Ireland

Sceala Clann Counsellor Location: Kent

Thu Jul 16, 2009
Anyone travelling from the UK to Ireland must go by air or sea. We all know that no one can board a aeroplane without a valid passport -- so these plans must be aimed at sea travellers. Does Ireland have any plans to check all passports of arrivals by sea from the UK -- Ireland should do this. If no one arriving from the UK has to show their passport --Ireland will be inviting big problems.
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UK shelves Irish passport plan
The Common Travel Area between the UK and the Republic has existed since 1925
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."

Reality of problem is not going to fall on orange extremist windbag like wilson, not directly at first anyway! However soon enough even his wee streets will be effected.

Look how these came into Ireland.

TOMAS MacRUAIRI
AN AFRICAN man has been found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping a teenage girl he claimed in evidence to have married in Zambia in 2002.

Kasenge Bangu, 46, a Congolese native, with an address at St Anthony's Street, Rialto, was convicted on four charges of raping the then 15-year-old victim in Wexford on dates from November 20 to December 7, 2002. One verdict was by 10-2 majority and the rest unanimously.

The jury found him not guilty on one charge of raping her at an unknown address in Dublin and also on two counts of anally raping a then 13-year-old girl between the same dates. One of these acquittals was by direction of the court.

The elder girl became pregnant as a result of Bangu raping her and was assisted by the then South Eastern Health Board to have an abortion in England.

A Scottish scientist gave evidence in the trial that DNA analysis on foetal matter from the abortion and on hair and blood samples from Bangu showed it was "two million times more likely" he was the father than if they were unrelated to each other.

Bangu had pleaded not guilty to all the offences, telling his defence counsel, Mr Tom O'Connell SC, that he was arrested on November 20, 2002, in Zambia after allegations of sexual assault and child trafficking to Europe were made against him and that he was in custody there to December 16, 2002.

He said he married the older girl in Zambia on November 14, 2002, in a traditional arranged marriage ceremony after he paid a dowry of US $500, a goat, a length of fabric and a frying pan to her parents.

He said he believed she was over 18 at the time, that he had consensual sex with her in Zambia until November 20, 2002 but that their marriage had not been registered with the State. He denied he raped her, saying the allegations were "one hundred per cent false" and the girls had made up the story they told gardai and social workers because they were looking for asylum.

He also claimed never to have seen the younger girl before his trial in Lusaka in 2004 on four counts of abduction and rape of the two girls.

The rape victim strongly denied ever being married to Bangu or having consensual sex with him. She said she was at school in Zambia at the time and was not thinking of marriage.

She told Mr Buckley that Bangu was introduced to her family through a friend in Zambia in early November 2002 and an offer was made for her and the younger girl to go with him to look after children for which in return they would get a good education.

They arrived in Ireland on November 17, 2002, via London with Bangu and a woman. She said they travelled with false identities on passports provided to them.

She described how Bangu brought them to a house in Wexford where, a few days after they arrived, he locked her into a room, tore off her clothes and raped her while she cried and pleaded with him to let her go.

A further three rapes happened on one day when they returned to the Wexford house from a visit to a Dublin address. She said Bangu had not used a condom during any of the rapes and when she cried, he called her "a villager" and told her: "People in Ireland sleep with people not their husbands or wives or partner."

She told Mr Buckley that on December 9, 2002, she and the younger girl "ran away" from the Wexford house and went to a garda station where they were later introduced to social workers.

They were placed in foster care and she subsequently found she was pregnant. She travelled to England with the help of the Health Board and had the pregnancy terminated in February 2003.

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Show Passports between UK and Ireland