Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that it is not a new phenomenon from the point of view of the legislation that governs it but it is a new phenomenon from the point of view of it being applied and implemented so harshly. That is the point. We have the DUP and others in the North who clearly want to build a border that is as hard as possible. There is an onus on all of us to ensure that does not succeed and that we do not allow that to happen. Nobody is suggesting that there should be open borders or that immigrants should flow into the country freely. We all understand that. We are on an island and anyone who comes to the island must go through an airport or sea port and there are checks in those places. The Minister would have to acknowledge that this issue is something we all understand but we also understand that we have the Good Friday Agreement, which is about washing away the hard Border and making sure it does not negatively affect the lives of people who live in the Border region or people who want to move freely across the Border. I understand what the law says and also that the law has always been there but the point is that the Garda National Immigration Bureau is now implementing it in a much harsher manner than it has done until now, which is more than regrettable.

I ask the Minister to use his offices to ensure that discontinues as quickly as possible.

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