Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality. It was never my intention to cause any unintended consequences. The objective of this Bill is to ensure that people enjoy the benefits of the common travel area, which has existed, as the Minister of State said in his opening comments, since 1922 between the countries.

It should not be a requirement for a person to have to carry a passport within the common travel area within which people are entitled to travel without one. Unfortunately, that is a requirement when travelling with one carrier, Ryanair, which forces people to carry a passport. That requirement causes people a difficulty when travelling within the common travel area. The Minister of State is willing to accept that is a problem. As Deputy Mathews said, the Minister and the Government need to come up with a solution to that problem and to bring clarity to the position that currently pertains.

I, no more than other Deputies, have received representations from various constituents. I cited the case of a businessman when introducing the Bill. This issue is causing a difficulty because there is confusion over it depending on the airline on which people travel. If one travels by sea in the common travel area, there is no instance where one is required to have a passport; all one needs to carry is some form of identification to prove that one is the person named on the ticket, if asked. There is a difficulty and a lack of clarity in this area and that needs to be tidied up. That is the reason this Bill has been introduced in the first instance. Other Deputies mentioned the issue of the rugby referee who was not carrying a passport when he came to Dublin to referee a major match and the airline concerned had to waive that requirement. There is confusion over this and it is not right that this is the case.

Irish citizens who travel to UK airports, and particularly to London, are sent through a separate channel at the airport; they are not sent through the channel designated for other people arriving from other destinations. Therefore, an allowance is this respect is provided by UK airports but such an allowance in terms of a separate channel is not provided in Dublin Airport or in other Irish airports for citizens arriving from United Kingdom.

Other airlines flying between Ireland the United Kingdom do not mandate all passengers to carry passports but rather they require them to carry other relevant identification to match their name on the ticket. The spirit of the common travel area is being broken by one particular airline and that needs to be challenged. The Minister must come up with satisfactory legislation to deal with this issue, which has dragged on since the 1920s but has been particularly bad in recent years.

There is also the issue of the cost of a passport, which is €95 over the counter and €35 for a passport card. That needs to be reviewed by the Government in terms of providing some type of exemption, particularly for pensioners, who are hard-pressed and have had a great deal of hardship imposed on them during the past eight years. A measure needs to be introduced to ensure that people over the age of 65 are given a free passport. That issue needs to be reviewed. A constituent told me they had to get a passport when they were only travelling to the United Kingdom. That person was not getting the full benefit of a passport and they were only doing it on a ad hocbasis. That person is paying that level of cost for a document that they will not use very much.

As I referenced, there is case law in this respect, in that cases have been taken against the Minister for Justice and Equality such as Pachero v. the Minister for Justice and Equality, which challenged the fact that the common travel area is not a real common travel area; that the spirit of it is not being adhered to. That needs to change. I ask the Minister to bring forward proper legislation to overhaul the current position to ensure that what pertains will be uniform and that carriers will all operate the same identification checks and that there is no discrimination depending on the airline with which one is travelling.

I thank, in particular, Graham Butler who is based in the faculty of law at the University of Copenhagen who was very helpful in bringing this issue to my attention and providing extra help in the drafting of this Bill and of some speaking points on it. He has had an article published in the Irish Juriston this issue, highlighting this is not a real common travel area, as highlighted in Pachero v. the Minister for Justice and Equality. This area needs to be examined and hopefully it will be, as the Minister of State said, through the reform of the immigration laws.

I never in any way wanted to take from existing laws. I acknowledge that we need to strengthen them, but there is a gap in the law, a grey area. It is not nice if one is on the receiving end as a result of that. If one does not have the proper identification, one is not able to travel and has to face the consequences of that. Let us clear up this area once and for all. I hope the Minister of State will ensure that the Minister clarifies this area.

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