Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 October 2012
33. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the motion of the Stormont Assembly on 17 September to introduce a single visa scheme for all visitors to the island of Ireland; and his views on whether it would enhance tourism on the island of Ireland. [44819/12]
View answerI have been made aware of the motion the Deputy is referring to and I am advised that it was defeated. The Irish Short-stay Visa Waiver Programme, which was devised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department, commenced on 1 July, 2011 and was originally scheduled to run on a pilot basis until the end of October, 2012. It allows tourists or business people who have lawfully entered the UK, including Northern Ireland, on a valid UK visa to travel on to Ireland without the requirement to obtain an Irish visa. The Government decided on 12 March to extend the Programme for a further period of four years i.e. to end October 2016 in the light, particularly, of the positive response from tourism agencies and operators.
The Programme as it operates at present does not for technical reasons allow for reciprocity between the UK and Ireland. This is primarily due to the UK requirement that all visa applicants supply fingerprint (biometrics) data electronically as an essential element of applying for a UK visa. Quite obviously Ireland does not have the capacity to capture such data for all visa applications worldwide; currently for UK visas this is done in over 150 countries.
However, in tandem with the Visa Waiver Programme, work is ongoing, through the regular Common Travel Area Forum meetings between INIS and the UK Home Office, on the development of a short stay Common Travel Area visa which would allow tourists and business visitors to travel to the CTA and to travel freely between Ireland and the UK. It is anticipated that such a visa will prove an attractive option for tourists and business visitors, particularly in the context of the island of Ireland by facilitating visitors to travel freely between Northern Ireland and Ireland without the need for a separate Irish or UK visa.
The Common Travel Area visa proposal is an excellent example of the manner in which the Irish and UK immigration authorities are working in close cooperation both to preserve the integrity of the CTA and to harness its potential to deliver economic and tourism benefits for both countries.
