Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 252: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will address the concerns of a person (details supplied) regarding Schengen Visas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5430/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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While I am sympathetic to the concerns of the Deputy's correspondent in relation to promoting tourism, and would wish to facilitate that industry where I can, it clearly cannot be at the expense of undermining our border controls.

Schengen is a complicated issue and a more detailed background was supplied in my reply to priority question 46447/09 on 10 December 2009. As I stated then, Ireland has not applied to participate in the Schengen arrangements to the extent that they deal with the abolition of border checks. This decision has been taken to maintain the common travel area (CTA) with the United Kingdom which remains a priority for Ireland. The Common Travel Area could not continue to operate if Ireland were to remove border checks with Schengen states generally while the United Kingdom did not do so. To do so would result in a situation where the land border with Northern Ireland would become the border between the Schengen area and the United Kingdom. The inevitable consequence of this would be the introduction of border controls.

A unilateral decision to recognise UK visas as valid for Ireland, quite apart from the matter of sovereignty, is not as straightforward as might appear. The purpose of a visa regime is to examine applications from certain designated countries in advance, bearing in mind the immigration risks associated with such countries and ensuring that the purpose of that person's visit to Ireland is appropriate. Setting aside that examination (bearing in mind also that the purpose of the UK visit may well be different to that of Ireland) could risk undermining our border controls.

A joint visa system clearly has attractions in terms of promoting tourism. However the Schengen visa regime, on which such a proposal would be modelled, did not come about merely because countries wanted mutual recognition. The Schengen regime is underpinned by a raft of rules and procedures built up over years.

All of that said, my Department is always open to constructive suggestions and I will arrange a meeting between senior officials and the representative group of which the deputy's correspondent is Chief Executive.