Madam, - If it were proposed that Ireland sign the Schengen treaty to integrate our immigration and border system with the rest of the EU, a referendum would be required as this step would affect Ireland's sovereignty.
The proposals, now under discussion, formally to integrate our immigration controls with those of the UK equally affect our sovereignty, and I hope the Government will call a referendum before these proposals are acted upon. - Yours, etc,
MARK SUGRUE, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
Madam, - On reading the front page report in last Wednesday's Irish Timesthat passports would be required to visit Britain from 2009 I was surprised at the statement that they were not required during the second World War and even after the declaration of the Republic in 1949.
As a teenager making my first visit to Britain in 1947 I was required to have either a passport or travel identity card. This requirement continued into the early 1950s.
My understanding was that this was a measure introduced at the beginning of the war and that it covered travellers from the North as well, presumably because it was easier to have such controls at a sea or airport than on a dotted line on the map. - Yours, etc,
GEAROID O'SULLIVAN, Upper Kilmacud Road, Dublin 14.