PEOPLE TRAVELLING between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom will be subjected to stiffer identity checks before the end of the year, British officials have told the Government.
Under the move, British police will be able to demand extra information about, and from, people travelling through airports in Belfast and Derry and ports in Larne and Stranraer.
The powers were included under Section 14 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 passed at Westminster, and can be brought into force by ministers by signing regulations.
The British government has now told the Department of Justice that it intends to hold a round of consultations before introducing the changes.
The changes will be fiercely unpopular with unionists, who have argued that it means they will be treated as second-class citizens within the United Kingdom.
Passport and other identity checks will be introduced between the Republic and Great Britain - but not between the Republic and Northern Ireland - from 2009 for air travellers, and the following year for those travelling by sea under London's e-borders security system.
In practice, the change - though it ends a 50-year-old common travel area - matters little since airlines and ferries have long demanded that passengers offer proof of identity.
The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, in a letter to Ian Paisley when he was still Northern Ireland's first minister, went to considerable lengths to deny that British citizens would be required to produce identity documents to travel within their own country.
However, it is argued by some that the production of a passport, or a national ID card, is the only way in which an e-borders system requiring advance, verifiable information about passengers could operate effectively.
The two governments have also agreed that vehicles being carried by ferry can be searched to ensure that all passengers on board have proper documentation, while the ferries themselves could be fined for not ensuring that passengers' papers were in order.
The two governments have also agreed that vehicles being carried by ferry can be searched to ensure that all passengers on board have proper documentation, while the ferries themselves could be fined for not ensuring that passengers' papers were in order.
In a House of Commons written parliamentary answer, British Home Office minister Liam Byrne said: "The intention is that the power will be brought into force by secondary legislation in 2008... Once the proposals have been finalised they will be subject to a 12-week public consultation.
"It is expected that this police power will only apply to air and sea routes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Passengers will not be required to use passports, but may be required to produce one of several types of documentation, including passports, when travelling, to enable the carrier to meet the requirements of a police request," he said.
The need for stiffer identity checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom is deemed inevitable by the British government since both it and the Irish Government accept that such controls along the Border are impractical.
