A new “digital immigration” requirement to cross from the Republic into Northern Ireland will “contradict decades of messaging about tourism on the island of Ireland”, industry representatives have told the British Home Office.
The Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme, which comes into force for European travellers on Wednesday, means visitors from countries that do not require short-stay visas to enter the UK must now pre-apply for electronic clearance.
While Irish citizens and legal residents are exempt, the Government and industry groups have raised serious concerns about how the system will work in practice, flagging its potential to discourage visitors to Ireland generally.
A recent ministerial briefing note at the Department of Enterprise described the lack of exemption for international tourists travelling from the Republic to Northern Ireland as “a matter of concern for the tourism industry, both North and South”.
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“Particular concern remains around seamless cross-Border travel on the island, with a majority of international visitors to Northern Ireland typically arriving via this jurisdiction,” it said.
“Requiring tourists to apply and purchase an ETA to travel to Northern Ireland [for £10] results in an additional layer of bureaucracy and complexity that may deter potential visitors from choosing the island of Ireland as a holiday destination.”
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Last October, a meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly heard that 70 per cent of tourists who visit Northern Ireland enter from the Republic.
Several points of concern were raised between Irish industry and Government representatives during meetings with British Home Office officials late last year, and set out in documents accessed by The Irish Times through Freedom of Information.
“TI (Tourism Ireland) and ITOA (Inbound Tourism Operators Association of Ireland) were very robust in underlining that the ETA now contradicts decades of messaging about tourism on the island of Ireland,” a summary note from the Department of Foreign Affairs set out.
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“ITOA, in particular, noted that the international promotion of tourism on an all-island basis predates the GFA. They both argued that the language of communications is ultimately therefore critical.”
Several areas of concerns were set out during meetings last November, two months before the scheme was due to begin for non-European visitors including Americans. Key among them was the need for clear messaging to avoid confusion among those visiting the island.
It was explained that, for tourism purposes, Ireland was promoted as Ireland “and the UK doesn’t come into it”, a point accepted by the Home Office.
One of the meetings heard that implications for spontaneous “day-trippers” to Northern Ireland were a “real point of concern”.
“UK acknowledged challenges in identifying and reaching day-trippers and spontaneous travellers,” the DFA summary recorded. “Their starting point is likely to be engagement with car rental companies, taxis, rail and coach operators to seek embedded messaging on their website[s].”
“It would equally be difficult,” the notes recorded, “to make clear to a Dutch resident living in Donegal that he would required an ETA if he were flying home to Donegal from the Netherlands via Belfast.”
Questions regarding enforcement, liability, insurance cover, spontaneous and day trippers, and what might happen in cases where residents of the Republic were unable to prove their status in the event of being questioned by officials, were all raised.
“Strikingly, engagement with EU on plans for ETA roll-out has been notably limited,” the summary document said. “It was clear there are also no current plans for engagement with the diplomatic corps in Dublin, particularly in relation to communicating nuances of the ETA exemption secured for legal residents of Ireland.”
A Home Office official at the time said enforcement of the electronic clearance was not anticipated until the end of 2025 and that “leniency” had been built into the system roll-out.
Irish officials also pressed for further communication with freight groups.
