Brexit

UK travel scheme plans will ‘damage’ tourism on both sides of Irish border

Proposed system could block entry to Ireland for Northern Ireland’s one million tourists coming from abroad each year, lawmakers warn

Senator Emer Currie, chair of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly: “The Electronic Travel Authorisation Scheme in its current form will undermine the Common Travel Area, weigh down and damage tourism to Northern Ireland and the North-West of Ireland.” Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

A cross-party group of lawmakers from the UK and Ireland have branded the new UK government’s travel scheme to the UK as “unworkable” on the island of Ireland, with calls for its suspension to protect the tourism industries on both sides of the border.

Plans for a new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would require people who are not legally resident in Ireland to register before travelling to the UK, according to a report from the ...