Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 3

Written Answers. - Football Hooliganism.

Gay Mitchell

Question:

28 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will raise, with his colleagues in the EU General Affairs Council, the question of co-operating to ensure that known football hooligans are denied travel documents at times of international football events. [18120/97]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Andrews)

I do not have any plans to raise this matter in the General Affairs Council.

Responsibility for co-operation in areas of public order, including combating football hooliganism, rests with Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs. At EU level these matters are dealt with by the Council in its Justice and Home Affairs formation. For example, on 9 June 1997 the Council adopted a resolution on preventing and restraining football hooliganism through the exchange of experience, exclusion from stadiums and media policy. Consideration of the utility of particular measures such as that suggested by the Deputy should be part of an evaluation of how best to address different aspects of the problem as a whole.

The operation of the Schengen Agreement and the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the UK mean that passports and other documents are no longer required for travel between many EU countries. Denying travel documents to particular individuals would therefore not appear to be an effective means of controlling their movements.

I am advised that, except in the case of a passport obtained fraudulently, I do not have the power to withdraw Irish passports when they are issued; only in rare circumstances may I refuse passport facilities to an Irish citizen. As matters stand at present I am, therefore, not in a position to prevent an Irish football supporter from travelling to an international match abroad by denying him or her a passport. It would not be appropriate for me to take the kind of initiative in the General Affairs Council suggested by the Deputy unless I was in a position to put it into practice.