Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

We were lucky yesterday to have the presence of the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, in the House. The Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs was able to offer him a céad míle fáilte. However, that was not the case last Friday, when three young Texan backpackers were sent packing at Dublin Airport. They were refused entry because they could not prove they had tickets to go somewhere else. As everybody knows, backpackers move from country to country. This has cost each of those backpackers $1,800 and it will cost the Irish tourism industry as well because this story was picked up across the United States, including by The Dallas Morning News. The Garda said it was just standard procedure and that the US authorities do the same thing. However, this is not the case. I arrived in the US from New Zealand on a ship and I was allowed in although I was en route to another country with no proof of onward travel. The US immigration officials took a sane and reasonable view, and the Irish officials should have done the same.

What is clear is that there are no procedures in place for dealing with backpackers. They are jobsworths in Dublin Airport for turning away three backpackers who offered to show proof of funds. They were told "No" and two hours later they were on a flight back to the USA. Some gardaí out there need to be taken aside and spoken to. I would not let them be in charge of access to Craggy Island, let alone Ireland. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to write to these three people, express his concern that they were refused entry to the country and invite them back on a future occasion so they can see the céad míle fáilte we can offer when we recognise that we should not refuse entry to backpackers in such circumstances.