Mr. Les Allamby:

I have two or three comments. On the issue of the common travel area, we are very clear as to why putting it on an equal footing would make sense. It gives some clarity and avoids any kind of uncertainty in the long term. There are some issues.

Senator Byrne asked earlier about the North West Migrants Forum with which both ourselves and the Equality Commission have engaged. There are some issues about the common travel area not applying to asylum seekers. There are also practical difficulties about travelling. If one wants to go to Dublin, for example, it would be much easier to go via Derry but one is not entitled to go into Ireland. There are similar issues for people who have the right to travel throughout the UK because of their immigration status but cannot travel from Derry to Donegal without risking their immigration status. There are some issues around the common travel area.

The idea of the charter of rights is important. It was very much about symbolising that all bodies, North and South, agree to abide by rights. We are keen to keep looking at where the Ad Hoc Committee on a Bill of Rights of the Northern Assembly can work in this area because that is much more likely to have practical enforcement issues, beyond the commitment. Commitment is important in the charter of rights.

To respond to the Chairman's first question, the Home Office of the UK Government today issued a document about electronic travel authorisations, ETAs, for entering. I understand the Home Office has made it clear in that document that the arrangement does not affect the common travel area and Irish citizens. I have not had a chance to read that document in detail. It would be worthwhile for the committee to examine that document. It is important because the UK Government is tightening borders elsewhere but using a different approach to that being taken to the border on the island of Ireland. The set of issues we raised in our opening remarks included how to balance an open border against what the UK Government wants to achieve. It might want sovereign borders and preventing human trafficking and other issues. We are not sure how that can be done in practice. There are some tensions there.