Authority to Carry Scheme and Civil Penalties Regulations 2021

Lord Dodds of Duncairn Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP) [V]]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for the clear way in which she has outlined the purpose and details of these regulations; I welcome what they are designed to achieve.

The new legislation will reflect the changes that have been brought about as a result of Brexit and some of the sanctions now available under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. I certainly endorse the addition of the new classes of individuals who can now be made subject to a refusal of authority to carry. This is all very welcome and will help to safeguard the people of the United Kingdom, preventing unnecessary travel to and from the United Kingdom by people who should not be here—in the case of people who wish to travel to it and are not eligible for entry. Without it, there would be gaps and loopholes in the statute book, which would be impossible to justify.

Given that this is a UK-wide piece of legislation, covering Northern Ireland and, of course, Scotland, the same regulations and obligations will apply to carriers to and from Northern Ireland from abroad as apply in other parts of the United Kingdom. Today, I am interested in exploring with the Minister the application, implementation and enforcement of the duties and requirements under these regulations, given that Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom with a land border with another country and given that we have the common travel area, to which the Minister referred, covering the whole of the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic.

Since we have an open border with the Irish Republic for people under the common travel area arrangements, people travelling into the Irish Republic from abroad by seaport or airport can travel into Northern Ireland and cross over into the rest of the United Kingdom without necessarily having any further checks made upon them after their arrival in the Irish Republic.

The Minister referred to the application of the regulations to carriers to the UK by way of the common travel area. If the endpoint is the United Kingdom, someone may well decide to travel into the Irish Republic, stay for a period, and then come into the United Kingdom at a later point. I would be grateful if the Minister could outline how the provisions of the regulations apply in relation to carriers of individuals who are not eligible to be in the United Kingdom, and who may decide to use Dublin, or another Irish port of entry, as a means of accessing the United Kingdom in this fashion.

Do we have the same reporting and other obligations on carriers travelling into the Irish Republic in respect of people who are ineligible to travel to the UK? What is the level of co-operation and exchange of information and details between the Irish and UK border authorities? What obligations are the Irish border authorities under and how can we be sure that they are being properly and rigorously monitored? How is the system of enforcing fines implemented if people who are ineligible to enter the UK are carried into the Irish Republic and then come into the United Kingdom?

Clearly, this is a matter of considerable interest to people in Northern Ireland and is something that is worthy of reassurance to citizens, not just in Northern Ireland but in other parts of the United Kingdom. Given the common travel area arrangements, the systems to control the Irish border—its ports and airports—must be as robust in relation to incoming international travel as those for airports and seaports in the United Kingdom itself.

In welcoming the legislation before us, I seek the Minister’s reassurance that these necessary and important regulations are not in any way undermined or weakened as a result of the current arrangements within the common travel area. I fully support the common travel area arrangements in principle; they have worked to the advantage of both the United Kingdom and citizens of the Irish Republic, and, of course, they pre-date European Union membership. I just want to be assured that in these regulations we have covered all bases and that people cannot use the common travel area arrangements as some kind of back door, and that carriers cannot evade their responsibilities by using them or by means of not having the regulations properly enforced against them if these circumstances were to arise.