All Irish passengers flying to the U.S. face pat downs and searches of hand luggage in Irish airports, and the Department of Transport says that the rigorous security checks will last as long as necessary.
However, Irish authorities are not installing controversial body scanning equipment. This may cause further delays, as body scanning is a faster and more efficient searching method than a physical pat down.
The Department of Transport said that the EU had not yet approved the body scan technology. U.S. authorities are hopeful that the Council of EU ministers will approve the technology in coming weeks.
There is also a growing concern that Islamic extremists could compromise the common travel area between Ireland and the UK.
The UK is a target for Islamic terrorists, and British Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay asked the UK Borders Agency if they currently shared information about suspected Islamic extremists with the Irish police.
MacKinlay said that by entering the North of Ireland via the Republic, barred extremists could then easily enter mainland Britain undetected.
A UK Borders Agency spokesperson confirmed, “the UK Border Agency shares immigration watch lists with the Irish Government."
The spokesperson also said that legislation was needed to "make the border between the UK and the Republic stronger than ever."
Ireland's Department of Justice said there was “close and ongoing co-operation . . . between An Garda Síochána and the UK authorities.”
4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.maizamaya | Jan 07, 2010, 02:05 AM EST
Continental Airlines is a horrible company. They are always delays and you can never get out of that God forsaken place on time. When I visited Ireland, I took Arelingus. It was a good flight.I had no trouble on crossing to Ireland and back. Arelingus is a lot better than Continental. Don't like Continental.
MotherIrish | Jan 06, 2010, 06:57 PM EST
Ok so have you heard of any 55 yrs old white European hertiaged women strapping on bombs? So why do we get the pat downs. Muslims have been for the most part those who do this so profile them. Scan women having their period with a pad on and it shows up. Now there is an invasion of privacy if I have ever heard of one. What about kids, they don't have a say. We just don't do it right and we always have a knee jerk reaction to the problem.
Mollyanne | Jan 06, 2010, 11:25 AM EST
Hi I was one of the many thousand passengers held up last Sunday evening in Newark and it was a scandal how we were treated by Continental Airlines and the Airport, granted the security issue was none of their doing but closing the gates of the flight before all the people had boarded through no fault of their own at 2 am in the morning with young children having spent 8 hours in the Airport with no apologies or explanation of what was going on this is totally unacceptable and if this is what we have to endure from now on I for one wont be doing much travelling anymore to the US I think they have lost the plot and it just is not worth the hassle
plasticpaddy | Jan 05, 2010, 04:04 PM EST
thats ok, I don't mind the security, as long as people are treated with respect I find myself acquiescing to the extra security features. We Irish have never been of any trouble to the US so what do we have to hide.