A call has been made for gardaí and the PSNI to operate in each other’s areas in a “corridor” along the border.

Fine Gael Senator Paul Coghlan said made the suggestion to deal with ongoing criminality and large-scale smuggling of cigarettes and fuel laundering which is costing the Irish and British governments hundreds of millions each year.

Mr Coghlan, chair of a British-Irish parliamentary committee investigating cross-border smuggling, said the south Armagh region had a particularly high concentration of fuel laundering plants and other illegal activity.

“In fact, policing in south Armagh is so light that the criminals openly demonstrate their existence and carry on with impunity,” he warned.

The Kerry Senator said "the operational districts of both An Garda Síochána and the PSNI should be open to one another in a corridor along the border".

He also told the Seanad that in South Armagh criminals appeared to “operate in their own fiefdoms with a proliferation of blue alert signs”, unofficial notices, inviting the public to report to them rather than the police. He said they were in public areas throughout south Armagh.

Mr Coghlan asked: “Do they think they are the law in that region? How can this be tolerated in a democratic society?”