Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for this question. The common travel area is a long-standing arrangement between the UK and Ireland, which means Irish citizens can move freely to live, work and study in the UK on the same basis as UK citizens and vice versa. It is an arrangement that is valued by both islands and the continuation of this arrangement is a stated objective of the Irish and UK Governments. In the context of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, it is important that any arrangements necessary to maintain the common travel area are made.

The common travel area provides for associated rights and entitlements which enable Irish and UK citizens to move freely between and reside in both jurisdictions. These rights and entitlements include access to employment, healthcare, education and social benefits, as well as the right to vote in certain elections. I benefitted from those rights when studying in the UK.

Article 2 of the draft protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, within the draft withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK, is a translation into legal terms of the acknowledgment between the EU and UK negotiators, made in their joint report of December 2017, that the UK and Ireland may continue to make arrangements between themselves relating to the movement of persons between their territories. This has been marked as green, indicating that it has been agreed at negotiator level, and it is a welcome provision in seeking to maintain the common travel area insofar as it relates to the EU-UK negotiations.

The maintenance of the common travel area is a bilateral matter. Work is ongoing with the UK and domestically to ensure that the necessary provisions are made in both jurisdictions in order that the common travel area continues to function effectively after the UK leaves the EU. Work at official level will continue so as to ensure that the legal and administrative bases necessary to maintain the common travel area are in place and to safeguard the entitlement of Irish citizens to access these associated rights in the UK and that of British citizens to do so in Ireland.

I brought forward a briefing note for the Cabinet on this issue last week in the context of the broader Brexit discussions we had within Government. We have multiple Departments working together to ensure that we take the necessary legal and policy decisions to ensure that the common travel area, as we enjoy it today, continues post Brexit.

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