Motion on the Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security - 21st January 2010.

Motion on the Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security - 21st January 2010.
Senator David Norris: With regard to my distinguished colleague and friend, Senator O’Donovan, he is unduly optimistic when he speaks about the stamping out of drug trafficking. It is simply not going to happen. He was able to refer to two notable successes, on which I compliment those involved in these good examples of detection. However, even at the time the authorities acknowledged what had been seized was only between 5% and 10% of the drugs that passed through the country. This shows the scale of the problem. We might as well throw our hats at it. We will have to become adult and look at the drugs problem realistically. That is, however, a debate for another day. The motion will not conquer the problem, as everyone well knows from the figures.

In the case of cigarette smuggling, there is much hypocrisy on the part of the cigarette companies which are using the issue to oppose increases in cigarette prices. The major cigarette companies have been convicted of actively co-operating with smuggling activities. Again, that is a debate for another day, as I want to concentrate on the aspect of free movement around Europe.

The reason I raise this matter is largely selfish. At the beginning of this month I came back from Cyprus through Gatwick Airport. I followed all the signs for the international flight connections terminal, along winding corridors until I came to a box with a telephone. Normally, there is a courtesy bus for international flight connections every 15 minutes between specific hours. However, outside of these hours — which I was — I had to request one by using the aforementioned courtesy telephone.

Duly I telephoned for the bus and the voice on the other end asked me, “Where to?” I said, “I am going to Dublin but I do not want to take the bus the whole way as I would like to get on an aeroplane.” The voice on the other end said, “You can’t mate.” I asked, “Why not?” He replied that it was a domestic flight, to which I said, “What interesting news? I have been away for a couple of weeks. When did they make the announcement?” He asked, “What announcement?” I replied, “That we have rejoined the British Empire. Her Majesty is a wonderful woman and it will be so nice to be back part of this great family.” The man said, “I do not know what you are talking about,” to which I said, “When I left Dublin two weeks ago, it was the capital city of an independent republic within the European Union. Now, apparently, we have gone back in under the skirts of the British Empire. Can you, please, give me some more information?” He said, “Hump off. This is to do with the Schengen arrangement.”

What is the impact of this internal security arrangement on the Schengen Agreement, particularly as there are non-EU countries such as Switzerland in the Schengen area? After visiting Geneva recently, my colleague Senator O’Toole told me this morning that one would be driven blind trying to find where to go at Geneva Airport because of the arrangements for arrivals from the non-Schengen area. The easiest solution would be to go out through one door, miss the maze of tunnels, technically enter France, another Schengen country, and then come back into Switzerland. It is absolutely insane. As an Irish citizen I object to not being allowed to use international flight connections. It is supposed to be about security but I have already passed through security in another EU member state. How many times do we have to do it just because we are Irish?

3 o’clock
Some years ago a close friend of mine, before he obtained Irish citizenship, was here on asylum papers, all perfectly legal. He went on holiday to Barcelona and had to go through Heathrow Airport. On the way back he was interrogated, taken aside and humiliated by the authorities there. He was sent back to Barcelona because they thought he was trying to get into the European Union illegally. He had to pay for an extra couple of nights in Barcelona and his return flight. There was no redress. As a result, a black mark was put against his name on a computer. Some years later, coming back from a holiday he had shared with me, he was stopped again at Heathrow Airport and interrogated. As he is a Kurdish national, he is slightly darker than most home-grown Irish people. When the officer had the impertinence to ask him how a person like him had obtained Irish citizenship, he responded by asking how his companion, who was as black as the ace of spades, had been able to become a policeman in Britain. This type of practice is absolutely intolerable and should be cleared up. Britain is supposed to be a friendly country. It is outrageous that we are prevented from using international flight connections. Are we a separate nation or not? Why should the Schengen Agreement be used as a defence in regard to movement between the two islands when we have been already adequately cleared by security?

I raised this issue with the British ambassador’s predecessor some years ago. While our exchange by way of letter was cordial he denied that what I stated was happening. I took photographs of the relevant signage at Heathrow. I have, not in black and white but in full panavision technicolor, photographs of what they are doing. We have the power to decide whether we want to be represented on these committees.


An Leas-Chathaoirleach: The Senator has one minute remaining.


Senator Denis O’Donovan: The Senator’s plane is leaving.


Senator Ivana Bacik: From which area?


Senator David Norris: Thank you. I ask the Minister of State to ensure, if we are going to be part of this, this issue is taken into account and that our representatives are briefed on it in order that they can untangle it. I am sure many of my colleagues will agree that being forced in some of the airports in London, when one is forced to land in Britain, to go outside the airport and then re-enter and go through passport and customs control and so on again is not what one expects as part of an integrated Europe in the 21st century.