Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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541. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if exit checks are carried out on passengers who leave here through ports and airports; if he has made use of the European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC; and if so, the number of occasions. [13631/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that there are no routine exit checks on persons leaving the State. On occasion, immigration officers in response to particular operational requirements relating to the protection of our borders, including the protection of the Common Travel Area, have undertaken exit checks in accordance with the Immigration Act 2004. However, such checks occur infrequently.

In relation to the use of the European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC, this Directive applies to free movement for EU/EEA nationals and their qualifying family members and thus it applies to the entry and residence in the State of those persons entitled to avail of the Directive.

It is not feasible to provide a figure for the number of times it is applied as, for example, the many millions of EU/EEA national visitors who enter the State each year are not recorded for immigration purposes nor do EU/EEA nationals resident in the State require to register for immigration purposes. (It should be noted that qualifying non EU/EEA family members of an EU/EEA national resident in the State do have a registration requirement).