About bloomin' time ...........

[goodaine]

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The airport bus from Dublin is always packed with immigrants who head straight up to Belfast (we have enough Big Issue and Tele sellers now thank you very much) Hopefully this will now stop that

[Rooster]

Not sure what difference it will make goodie, they already check your passport coming in through Dublin and if they are legally entitled to enter ROI then there is still nothing to stop them driving north

[goodaine]

never thought of that ........ ah well back to the drawing board

[Gemma]

There are some checks done on the ROI side of the border. One of the times I went down on the bus earlier this year, the bus was stopped and searched. I think they have also been checking passports/papers for certain people as well. Granted, it's not every bus that's being stopped, because the next one I took wasn't.

[Neil F]

At least Big Issue and Telegraph sellers don't impact on my life. Instead of introducing these kinds of popular policies, the government should simply redress the population balance by deporting the kind of stars that apply to be charity muggers.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I've known some foreign students (Asian, -particularly Far Eastern) who are studying "medicine" related subjects, mostly post-grads who are legally entitled to live, work and study in the UK, but who have travelled to Dublin etc for study-related conferences and meetings (we have some collaborations with southern universities and hospitals). I've heard of a few who have been arrested on the bus/train and fined/deported back north (sometimes after several hours or a night in the cells). Checks do seem to be common on the buses and trains and skin colour does appear to be the means of identifying those to be "checked", but cars are never checked. We obviously advise students not to travel without the approprate visa issued by RoI, which is readily available, but which comes at a cost and takes time to arrange - something they don't always have if meetings arranged at short notice.

Some decide to take their chance and travel without the paperwork (and save time and money). The impression given is that this is a money making exercise by Dublin, as I have never known an application (with the fee) to be refused, but it could be argued that the RoI is entitled to know of "visitors" to its shores. The obvious best way of getting around this would be to avoid public transport - get a lift with someone else travelling, but most of my (British/Irish) colleagues who travel south for such meetings prefer the more relaxed journey on the train.

I'm not aware of any similar checks on North-bound travel.