Mr. Noel Waters:

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to attend the meeting to address the subject of the common travel area in the context of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. I am accompanied by Mr. Jimmy Martin, assistant secretary, whose responsibilities include the Department’s Brexit unit, and Mr. Willie O’Dwyer, principal officer in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of the Department who looks at the issue of border control.

The decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union presents unprecedented challenges for Irish society and we can all agree that how we respond will shape our future for decades to come. Preparations are being led strongly from the centre through the Cabinet committee on Brexit which is chaired by the Taoiseach and of which the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is a member. An interdepartmental group of senior officials, on which the Department of Justice and Equality is represented, reports to the Cabinet committee and takes forward the detailed co-ordination of analysis and preparations for the United Kingdom's exit. In turn, all Departments have structures in place to deal with issues of relevance to their policy areas. We are all active in consulting, engaging and preparing for the forthcoming negotiations and managing the impact of the United Kingdom's exit. This work has been aided greatly by the all-island civic dialogue process, as well as by public and stakeholder engagement.

The common travel area has been identified by the Government as one of the four priority issues for Ireland, with the economy, Northern Ireland and the future of the European Union. Given the Department of Justice and Equality's responsibilities in immigration and border control matters, we have naturally been centrally involved in the analysis and management of this aspect of Ireland's preparations. We are working closely with other relevant Departments, including our colleagues in the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in the context of the overall strategic approach to the forthcoming negotiations. The Government is unequivocally committed to maintaining the common travel area between Ireland and the United Kingdom. These arrangements have been in place since the foundation of the State and are an important feature of the close relationship between the two jurisdictions. Our entitlement to stay outside the Schengen arrangements and maintain the common travel area is recognised in Protocols 19 and 20 of the EU treaties. These arrangements are in place alongside and complement the special position of Northern Ireland and the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement on the citizenship rights of the people of Northern Ireland. The daily reality of the operation of the commons travel area is one of deep and extensive interaction between the two jurisdictions, as the Chairman noted.

I will demonstrate the importance of the common travel area to the social ties and economic lifeblood of our respective jurisdictions. Of the 27.9 million passenger journeys through Dublin Airport in 2016, 9.9 million were from the UK to Ireland or from Ireland to the UK, which is 36% of the total. Averaged out over the year, it means 27,000 passengers have their journey facilitated by the common travel area every day. In 2015, 1.2 million residents of Northern Ireland used Dublin Airport, which averaged almost 25,000 people per week crossing the Border to catch flights, and 1 million visitors to Northern Ireland came into this State via Dublin Airport. All of these journeys, and the economic activity generated, are made possible by the common travel area arrangements so much so that it is taken for granted in facilitating movement of people North-South and east-west. The picture at other entry points to the State is the same. Cork Airport has over a dozen routes to the UK, with almost 1 million passengers, or 50% of the total, in 2016 taking a journey in either direction. The number of passenger journeys by sea through our ferry ports is also significant at approximately 2.8 million per year. It is estimated there are an average of 2.2 million monthly vehicular crossings on the North-South land Border. These vital statistics relate to the movement of people. We should not forget that in addition to people moving freely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the common travel area is also about allowing people to remain, work, access services and to be educated and so forth in either jurisdiction. Preserving those provisions in addition to travel rights is at the heart of maintaining the common travel area.

Prior to the UK vote on Brexit, the operation of the common travel area continued in the background of most people’s lives without a great deal of active consideration. Many of the entitlements it confers had become intermingled with rights derived from EU law on free movement. When this body of law ceases to apply insofar as the UK is concerned, the pre-existing relationship between Ireland and the UK will come to the fore. In order to outline the scope and nature of the CTA arrangements, it will be helpful for me to outline the approach we took in the Department to studying this issue, which is to go back through its history.

We can trace the origin of the common travel area to the history of the two countries as a common jurisdiction with a shared citizenship following the Act of Union. After Irish Independence, and up until 1948, as far as the UK was concerned, Ireland remained part of the Commonwealth and Irish citizens remained subjects of the British monarch with the same entitlements as British subjects. In that context it made little sense to impose passport controls. While the attitude of the Irish authorities was different in political terms, from the earliest days of the State the Irish Government wished to maintain the common travel area. British nationals were not treated as aliens in Irish law and for most matters were treated the same as Irish nationals. The word "alien" is an immigration word in ancient legislation. Even after Ireland left the Commonwealth, special provision was made in the Ireland Act 1949 which provided that Irish nationals were treated as non-foreign in UK law. On the Irish side, S.I. No. 1/1949 was made to the effect that UK nationals would enjoy similar rights and privileges to Irish nationals in the UK. These fundamental characteristics of the relationship have remained applicable to this date as a result of various reforms of UK immigration law in the 1970s and 1980s and by both countries becoming members of the then European Economic Community in 1973.

In practice, the most immediately concrete expression of the common travel area relates to the operation of border controls and the freedom of Irish and UK nationals to travel passport-free between the two jurisdictions. These arrangements have been in place since Irish Independence, with the only period of interruption arising during and immediately after the Second World War. The common travel area operates to some degree like a mini Schengen zone, with the immigration authorities in both jurisdictions co-operating to protect the borders of the CTA and to prevent its abuse. Central to the operation of the common travel area is that each State enforces the other’s conditions of landing for non-EU nationals. I stress that it refers to non-EU nationals. This is a crucial point in the context of the forthcoming UK exit negotiations.

This co-operation has deepened in recent years under the aegis of the Common Travel Area Forum, which is an official body from both jurisdictions that meets on a regular basis. The information sharing systems we have put in place have made it possible to introduce the British-Irish visa scheme and the Irish short stay visa waiver programme, both of which make it easier for visa required nationals to visit both jurisdictions, with considerable benefits in terms of tourism and business travel. Tourism Ireland projects there will be 50,000 Chinese visitors to Ireland this year. The British-Irish scheme will enable all of these visitors to move between our two countries. In 2012 before it was introduced, that number was only 17,000. Our objective is to continue to operate these arrangements and to continue to co-operate closely with the UK. It is also important to emphasise that Ireland remains a committed member of the European Union and will operate these arrangements in a way that is compatible with EU law. In particular, we will continue to uphold the right of free movement of all citizens after the UK leaves the union.

The common travel area border control arrangements are complemented by a range of broadly reciprocal entitlements in terms of rights to reside, work and access services. These entitlements are closely associated with the freedom of movement between the two jurisdictions and have their roots in the historic associations and legal provisions I have outlined. While the policy responsibility for many of these areas rests with other Departments, we have been working closely with them in the analysis of this issue. All of this work is inputting into Ireland’s preparation for the forthcoming negotiations.

The Government’s objective is to ensure current CTA arrangements continue following the expected withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Pending the Article 50 process commencing, an extensive programme of engagement has been put in place to support this strategic objective. The importance of the common travel area has been highlighted through political and diplomatic engagement with other member states and the EU institutions. Considerable efforts are being made to build awareness and understanding of its significance, including in the context of North-South relations and the peace process. Members will also have seen the very clear commitments from the Taoiseach and Prime Minister May to maintain its benefits into the future. There are many aspects of the forthcoming negotiations on which it would not be helpful for me to speculate. However, I assure the committee that our preparations have been extensive and we will play our part alongside other Government Departments to ensure the best possible outcome for the Irish people.

I look forward to discussion with the committee and my colleagues over the next number of hours.