Sir, – I want the common travel area to survive in the post-Brexit world, but the notion that some EU citizens may be denied access to Ireland because they are on a British “no entry” list, is a step too far (“Some EU citizens may face Irish travel ban”, News, November 19th).
Who knows in what future conflicts the British will get embroiled, particularly if they are no longer constrained by sensible voices in the European Union?
How tempting for them to deny a speaker invited, say, by UCD, access to a platform to speak out against some foreign misadventure, by simply sending their name to the Irish immigration authorities? – Yours, etc,
KENNETH HARPER,
Burtonport,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – This time last year, the European Parliament considered two papers on the question of a border in Ireland.
One was by a Swedish customs expert, advocating use of technology to minimise customs procedures.
I wrote the second paper. In my paper I explained why even the maximum use of technology would not avoid the need for physical checks if there was an economic border, that is, if there were different tariffs or regulations on the two sides of the border.
The Swedish expert did not dispute this.
What matters is whether the legal and economic regimes are different, and if they are, no technology can avoid the need for some kind of border controls.
An uncontrolled border would be an invitation to organised crime. Smugglers cannot be relied on to fill out electronic forms. – Yours, etc,
JOHN TEMPLE LANG,
Dublin 4.