Madam, - The main front-page report in your edition of October 24th suggests that it has been possible to travel between Britain and Ireland without any identity document since 1922. Your political editor has obviously not tried to enter the State from Great Britain through Dublin or Cork airports in the past ten years. All passengers arriving at those airports from Britain, although they may sometimes start in a channel designated "Arrivals from United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands" end up at passport control and are asked for a passport in the same way as any other international arrival.
On several occasions I have protested the existence of the Common Travel Area, only to be told that it is now Irish Government policy to check the identity of everyone arriving at those airports on an "international" flight. You will be aware that arrivals at British airports from Ireland are treated as "domestic" and that there is no systematic identity check or passport control. There are occasional checks by the police, not immigration officials, under the Terrorism Act, on the identity of individuals arriving from Northern Ireland and the Republic.
In answer to a parliamentary question in the House of Commons on March 21st this year, I was told by the then Minister of State for the Home Office, Liam Byrne, that the Irish Government informed the UK Government on June 28th, 1997 that immigration checks on passengers arriving from the UK would take place at Irish airports from that date.
The Common Travel Area for air passengers arriving in Ireland has been dead for 10 years. I regret the passing of that historic bond between our two nations. Is it beyond the electronic wit of man to use the opportunity of the collection of airline passenger data under the new "e-borders" regime to again return to the free movement of people between the two nations? - Yours, etc,
ROBERT WALTER MP,
House of Commons,
London SW.
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Madam, - The ending of the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain, which has existed since the foundation of the State in 1922, will mean very little change to a situation which has existed de facto for many years at British and Irish airports. I cannot remember the last time I wasn't asked for my passport at the point of departure in Britain and again at subsequent arrival in Dublin. - Yours, etc,
PATRICK O'BYRNE,
Shandon Crescent,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.