Passports Required from 28 September for Ferry Travel Republic of Ireland to Great Britain

I knew this was going to come along after the issues surrounding the serious crime committed in Northern Ireland by an immigrant who travelled from the Republic to Northern Ireland to claim asylum after travelling to the Republic from Europe. Thought I'd play it safe and ask a Stenna Line customer service employee for their advice last month. The employee from Birkenhead advised me to get a passport during the Summer as it was coming into force for travel from Holyhead to Dublin so going forward it could affect Belfast too, watch this space as they say because there is nothing at all to stop someone without a passport from using Belfast to get to and from the Republic.

Ballyheigue said:

I knew this was going to come along after the issues surrounding the serious crime committed in Northern Ireland by an immigrant who travelled from the Republic to Northern Ireland to claim asylum after travelling to the Republic from Europe. Thought I'd play it safe and ask a Stenna Line customer service employee for their advice last month. The employee from Birkenhead advised me to get a passport during the Summer as it was coming into force for travel from Holyhead to Dublin so going forward it could affect Belfast too, watch this space as they say because there is nothing at all to stop someone without a passport from using Belfast to get to and from the Republic.

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I think there are unlikely to be passport-only restrictions on the Belfast to Birkenhead, or the Heysham to Stranraer route.
Last time similar restrictions were proposed and partially implemented, there was very significant levels of public disorder in NI, including the burning of public transport vehicles.
This persisted until the restrictions were removed.
Although I think some form of ID checking like a provisional or full driving license, NI voter identity card, bus pass etc. would be justified.

AlastairFraser said:

I think there are unlikely to be passport-only restrictions on the Belfast to Birkenhead, or the Heysham to Stranraer route.
Last time similar restrictions were proposed and partially implemented, there was very significant levels of public disorder in NI, including the burning of public transport vehicles.
This persisted until the restrictions were removed.
Although I think some form of ID checking like a provisional or full driving license, NI voter identity card, bus pass etc. would be justified.

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So long as the idiots in the North keep thinking they have the right to stop proper border checks then that border is open to abuse. I'm from strong Irish heritage but wouldn't be one bit bothered if proper border checks came into force. The North belongs to the UK and that's just how it is, if you're living in the North and commuting to work in the Republic then you're living in one country, and working in another in effect so should be subject to border checks. A get tough approach on the North is needed, riots should mean serious consequences.

I'm reminded of the time I arrived in Stranraer on the ferry from Larne in the 1970s. At the bottom of the gangplank stood a police officer and, not knowing his purpose, I showed him my passport. He was furious and gave me a good telling-off. Apparently I had made a highly-controversial political gesture suggesting that a united Ireland would be a foreign country requiring passport controls. 50 years later I still don't think I did anything wrong!

Ballyheigue said:

The North belongs to the UK and that's just how it is

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Passport-free travel between the two parts of Ireland is a key part of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Northern Irish overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU, and Republican parties now have a majority at Stormont.

If you want to tear up the Good Friday Agreement or if you want to force a situation where the people of Northern Ireland actually vote to join the South, bringing in passport control on the inner-Irish border is a pretty good way of managing it.

Ballyheigue said:

The North belongs to the UK and that's just how it is, if you're living in the North and commuting to work in the Republic then you're living in one country, and working in another in effect so should be subject to border checks. A get tough approach on the North is needed, riots should mean serious consequences.

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Doing that would not help a single bit the already struggling NI economy tho

If that were to happen or be rumored in any seriousness, as @Tetchytyke mentionned, the likelihood would be very right that every unionist politician on either side will just push to fast track reunification and NI, including the issues we are discussing, will stop being a UK problem overnight.

signed said:

Doing that would not help a single bit the already struggling NI economy tho

If that were to happen or be rumored in any seriousness, as @Tetchytyke mentionned, the likelihood would be very right that every unionist politician on either side will just push to fast track reunification and NI, including the issues we are discussing, will stop being a UK problem overnight.

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Er... have you met unionist politicians... ?!

An aside... during the in/out referendum campaigning, I was naively surprised with just how little the many issues of a post-Brexit NI (and its relationships with the ROI and GB) were discussed, at least here on 'mainland' Britain. It seemed so evident it would be the source of multiple major conundrums if there was a leave vote...

Ballyheigue said:

So long as the idiots in the North keep thinking they have the right to stop proper border checks then that border is open to abuse. I'm from strong Irish heritage but wouldn't be one bit bothered if proper border checks came into force. The North belongs to the UK and that's just how it is, if you're living in the North and commuting to work in the Republic then you're living in one country, and working in another in effect so should be subject to border checks. A get tough approach on the North is needed, riots should mean serious consequences.

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It's not just NI who wants an open border, it's the Republic of Ireland (RoI) government too. They openly said (I think the quote came from Leo Varadkar, who may well have been Taoiseach at the time) that they will not enforce border checks on the RoI/NI border, regardless of EU laws and treaties.
So there's absolutely no prospect of border checks on the NI/RoI border while it exists, and a very small chance that you could peacefully introduce border checks on routes between NI and GB.

Tetchytyke said:

Passport-free travel between the two parts of Ireland is a key part of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Northern Irish overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU, and Republican parties now have a majority at Stormont.

If you want to tear up the Good Friday Agreement or if you want to force a situation where the people of Northern Ireland actually vote to join the South, bringing in passport control on the inner-Irish border is a pretty good way of managing it.

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Precisely.

signed said:

Doing that would not help a single bit the already struggling NI economy tho

If that were to happen or be rumored in any seriousness, as @Tetchytyke mentionned, the likelihood would be very right that every unionist politician on either side will just push to fast track reunification and NI, including the issues we are discussing, will stop being a UK problem overnight.

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I'm not sure about unionists campaigning for reunification, but I think the border posts would be vandalised to the point of disuse pretty immediately by loyalists and some hardcore unionists.
You're completely correct about the potential economic effects - one of the reasons for the current positive trend in NI GDP per capita is the unique (within a post-Brexit UK context) unfettered access to the Single Market, as part of the Windsor Framework and other post-Brexit agreements.

In that case what's then needed is compulsory passports on all sailings from the mainland to all the islands, including the Isle of Wight etc. That way then the idiots in the North can't bleat and moan like they do that they feel apart from the UK. I personally can not believe that one mickey mouse ugly looking country can be so treasured by people from the UK and the Republic who live there, it's beyond a joke that the UK has this exposed dangerous loop hole and I'm surprised it's not been exploited more to be honest.

Tetchytyke said:

The Northern Irish overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU, and Republican parties now have a majority at Stormont.

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If you look at the 2022 NI assembly results you will find that republican parties do not have a majority in Stormont. Of the 90 seats SF have 27 seats and if you add the SDLP on 8 that is only 35 seats, so republican parties do not have a majority in Stormont. SDLP voters would normally be classed as Nationalists not Republican.

Ballyheigue said:

the UK has this exposed dangerous loop hole

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Ireland is not part of Schengen and, for non-EU nationals, its immigration laws are broadly in alignment with those in the UK.

I’m not sure where this idea that it’s a massive open border has come from.

It’s why I don’t really see the point of enforcing passports on the ferries to Eire. Just seems to be something that will annoy legitimate travellers for no real benefit.

It's not a GFA thing to travel without passports between the two nations - it existed before it, and as far as I'm aware, during the troubles, when there was a much stronger case for knowing who was travelling. Obviously, during the troubles there were fewer land (road) crossings but it was porous and there were plenty checkpoints. That passport-less sea travel could live through 100 years filled of partition, civil war, war,, peace, troubles, and peace again .. but rubber dinghies in the English channel requires passports in St George's channel? The _right_ to travel like this is being removed, and to me, widens the gap and special relations between the two nations.

It's also bug'all to do with EU - is it Brexit or NI's special situation? Nope - Schengen manages to include Switzerland and that's not part of the free trade area. If UK and Ireland could both trust each other's immigration control, this wouldn't be necessary.

The daft thing is that the UK doesn't trust its own capabilities on this, and knows its situation is worse than the Republic's. As it knows something must be done .. well, this stupid move is something, so it must be done..

There still remains one workaround, the Lough Foyle ferry - from Ireland to the UK ... that's not requiring passports!

fishwomp said:

It's not a GFA thing to travel without passports between the two nations - it existed before it, and as far as I'm aware, during the troubles, when there was a much stronger case for knowing who was travelling.

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It pre-dates the GFA, you're quite right, but it is something that has been codified into the GFA. It's why you won't see passport control on the inner Irish border, although that isn't to say that the Gardai and the PSNI don't ever check who is crossing the border.

fishwomp said:

The daft thing is that the UK doesn't trust its own capabilities on this, and knows its situation is worse than the Republic's. As it knows something must be done .. well, this stupid move is something, so it must be done..

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Ironically, the issue tends to be more with people travelling through the UK to claim asylum in the Republic of Ireland. The Irish believe about 80%-90% of all asylum seekers in the South have got there through the UK and the North. The Irish also believe it was a direct response to the various crackdowns in the UK, not helped by the fact that the Irish couldn't return people to the UK because the Irish courts ruled that the UK was no longer a safe country for returns because of the Rwanda nonsense.

Up to 90% of asylum seekers in Ireland may have entered the country via the Northern Ireland land border in the last three years, figures suggest.

Irish government data shows the common travel area (CTA) is being exploited in both directions but suggests it may be more popular for those seeking asylum in Ireland than in the UK.
t was also expecting to revive a post-Brexit returns agreement that has so far seen only one asylum seeker returned to Ireland from the UK.

The deal agreed in 2020 was delayed after Ireland’s high court ruled that the UK’s policy on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda meant it was not a legally defined “safe country”.

“Arrangements for re-operationalising the agreement, on foot of the redesignation of the UK as a safe third country, will be put in place in consultation with the UK,” DFAT said.

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I don't even think it is a lack of trust in each other's immigration services, I think you're right that it is a case of "something must be done, this is something, therefore we must do this." It doesn't really affect me because I've always used my passport to Ireland anyway, because of how the Gardai at Dublin Airport check things. But it is just more silliness.

Tetchytyke said:

[..] I've always used my passport to Ireland anyway, because of how the Gardai at Dublin Airport check things. But it is just more silliness.

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I'm the opposite - always using the driving licence: they insist you show boarding pass as well on arrival - to prove it was an ex-UK flight. A contrast to UK where the flight arrival is handled like a domestic flight - shame Dublin doesn't do that.

I would sometimes travel without passport at all. I found it handy to have both passport and driving licence as an option, such as if one of the two was being renewed. Ireland has a card and a book passport and you can have both which can be gotten separately - but the UK doesn't.

fishwomp said:

I'm the opposite - always using the driving licence: they insist you show boarding pass as well on arrival - to prove it was an ex-UK flight. A contrast to UK where the flight arrival is handled like a domestic flight - shame Dublin doesn't do that.

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Ireland do not segregate arrivals at all, I believe that even the Ryanair Kerry-Dublin flight, which is purely domestic don't

They have always taken a stricter approach, my ID had been checked by Garda all 3 times I used Irish Ferries as a foot passenger into Dublin Port

signed said:

They have always taken a stricter approach, my ID had been checked by Garda all 3 times I used Irish Ferries as a foot passenger into Dublin Port

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Entering Dublin - yes; Rosslare has - until July this year been a case of say your nationality and carry on (foot passenger or vehicle)