Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 March 2019
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Immigration Controls
266. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if all persons arriving in airports here on a domestic flight must go through immigration control despite the fact that they are travelling within the State; and his plans to remove this requirement. [11024/19]
View answerTwo domestic routes operate within Ireland; the Dublin to Kerry and the Dublin to Donegal PSO services. These twice daily flights are operated by Stobart Air, trading as Aer Lingus Regional. In 2018, approximately 94,000 passengers were classified as domestic, out of a total of approximately 37 million passengers (0.25%) at all Irish airports.
I should clarify to the Deputy that border management at Irish ports and airports is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) and An Garda Síochána. It has been confirmed to me that there is a legal requirement for a person arriving to the State by sea or air to present to an immigration officer and that this requirement does not apply to persons travelling within the State. As approved airports, an immigration presence is maintained at Donegal and Kerry Airports, as well as, of course, at Dublin Airport.
At Donegal and Kerry Airports, domestic passengers are not required to present to an immigration official on arrival. At Dublin Airport, where large numbers of international passengers arrive each day, it would be essential that any domestic passengers to remain completely segregated until after the immigration process has been completed. It is not possible at present for Dublin Airport to provide a separate channel to allow domestic passengers to bypass immigration control. As the deputy is aware, daa holds the statutory responsibility to manage and operate Dublin Airport, including all decisions on airport infrastructure investment. I understand from daa that, given the comparatively small number of passengers availing of domestic services, it would be prohibitively expensive for them to reconfigure the arrivals area of the airport to allow for such a bypass.
