Donaldson Assures That Border Travel Permit System Would Not Harm Ni Tourism
Deputy First Minister Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the UK and Irish governments could come up with a’sensible’ solution to ensure the initiative would not generate conflict between their countries. The head of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said that a proposal by the UK government to issue electronic travel cards to some passengers crossing the Irish border would have no negative impact on the tourism industry in Northern Ireland.
For Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, extending the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) programme to travels from Northern Ireland into the rest of the United Kingdom would be an acceptable alternative to implementing the scheme for cross-border travel.
Non-Irish EU individuals living in or visiting the Republic of Ireland will be required to get an ETA in order to cross the border into Northern Ireland under new post-Brexit immigration and border control laws now being debated in Westminster.
It is not intended to apply to Irish or UK citizens, who are already guaranteed free movement throughout the island under the terms of the long-standing common travel area (CTA) agreement. The visa-waiver style scheme, which would be similar to the one used in the United States, would not apply to them.
The UK government has stated that the ETA procedure would be straightforward and will not require any physical border inspections at all. But the Irish government has voiced its displeasure and requested that the island of Ireland be recognized as a unique situation in this regard.
During a Q&A session with business leaders at a pre-Assembly election event in Belfast organized by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Sir Jeffrey was questioned about the electronic authorisation problem (NI Chamber).
In an earlier speech, the DUP leader laid out his party’s intentions to revitalize the Northern Ireland economy, a policy agenda that includes a goal of making tourism a $2 billion business in the province by 2020. It was questioned if that aim would be undercut if visitors from the Republic of Ireland were discouraged from traveling north as a consequence of the additional bureaucracy. Sir Jeffrey said that it would not.
The Lagan Valley MP said that if ETAs were not necessary for cross-border travel, then they would be required for travel from Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom.
In his words, “Let’s be clear on this: the Government will conduct checks on the movement of people within the common travel area, and I don’t want those checks to take place at the point of entry between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, because that will exacerbate our difficulties in terms our connectivity with the rest of the United Kingdom, which is our largest market.”
“I don’t believe this will have an effect on tourism.” My belief is that, if we all act responsibly and share information inside the common travel area regarding the persons entering the common travel area, we can reduce any friction that may emerge as a result of the requirement to guarantee that we all understand who is entering the CTA.
In the Brexit discussions, we pushed hard to guarantee that the integrity of free movement of people inside the common travel area, as well as the integrity of the common travel area itself, was protected.
“We’ve accomplished that, but in order to ensure that the integrity of the common travel area is maintained, we need to know who is entering the common travel area, and I believe that if we can reach an agreement with the Irish Government for the sharing of that information, this can be dealt with in a reasonable manner.”
In all honesty, given the choice between having such checks performed at Dublin International Airport or having them performed at Belfast International, I know which option I would choose. The fact that we would have to be exposed to extra inspections just because we wish to travel inside our own nation does not sit well with me.
