Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 326: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that non-EU nationals may require British visas, at a cost of €56 to travel by bus to or from Donegal, due to the fact that the route passes through the Six Counties, effectively preventing these non-nationals, including not only tourists but taxpaying migrant workers, from travelling throughout the State; his views on whether it is acceptable that British immigration policy can dictate the places a person can travel in this State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6889/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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It is well established in the case law of our Supreme Court that the right of a State to control the entry of non-nationals is a fundamental expression of national sovereignty which has been universally recognised from the earliest times. These are fundamental rights of the State itself as well as fundamental rights of the individual citizen. Notwithstanding the foregoing there is, as there must be given our geographical proximity, close cooperation between Ireland and the United Kingdom on immigration matters generally. Both Ireland and the United Kingdom maintain a common travel area arrangement which operates to the mutual benefit of Irish and British citizens, reflecting ties of cultural identity and heritage as well as labour market and business needs. An effect of that arrangement of course is passport-free travel within the common travel area for such citizens. It is not an effect of this arrangement that either jurisdiction has ceded its independent right to determine its policy in relation to non-nationals generally, although of course nationals of European Union states as well as Iceland, Liechenstein, Norway and Switzerland enjoy extensive free movement rights as a matter of EU law. Thus it is not the case that a non-national who is granted leave to enter in Heathrow Airport is, ipso facto, entitled to enter the State without further ado.

As a further manifestation of that independent capacity for immigration policy making, neither an Irish visa nor a British visa empowers a non-national to enter the territory of the other jurisdiction in cases where the non-national in question is visa required in both jurisdictions. For example the holder of a British visa, if visa required in this jurisdiction, is guilty of an offence under section 4(9) of the Immigration Act 2004 if he or she crosses the Border without an Irish visa. I hope that the foregoing illustrates that the situation to which the Deputy refers is one of many such situations which can arise in respect of travel by non-nationals within the common travel area. The effect of the policy to which the Deputy refers is not to prevent non-nationals travelling throughout this State — it is to prevent non-nationals from travelling from one part of this jurisdiction to another via Northern Ireland without the permission of the appropriate authorities in that jurisdiction.

The Deputy should be aware that recent joint studies between the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the British Immigration and Nationality Directorate have identified a significant amount of illegal immigration between Great Britain and the State through Northern Ireland — in both directions.