Garda immigration crackdown on Donegal border prompts peer to ask why Sinn Fein aren't out 'sledgehammering'

Lord Dodds was reacting to new checks on people entering the Republic from Northern Ireland – on top of ongoing searches on the M1 motorway near Dundalk, in what Irish authorities say is an attempt to prevent abuse of the Common Travel Area (CTA).

Operations have also been conducted in conjunction with the UK Home Office on the Northern Irish side of the border, as well as at UK ports and airports.

The DUP peer says it shows Ireland has no objection to border checks when it suits them – and asked “where now Sinn Fein and their mock sledgehammering of a brick wall?”.

Sinn Fein were asked if they support the immigration checks policy, but have not replied.

British and Irish citizens are entitled to free movement across the border under the CTA – an agreement which predates the EU. However, many foreign nationals are not permitted to travel freely between the UK and Ireland.

Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) officers have conducted immigration searches under Operation Sonnet “in both overt and covert operations” in recent months.

In June, the Garda reported a total of 199 persons detected illegally in the Republic since the operation began in October 2023. Of these, 169 people were returned to the mainland UK by ferry and 27 were returned to Northern Ireland by train or bus. Figures for recent months have not been provided in the force’s reports.

Checks had traditionally been conducted on the M1 motorway near Ravensdale in County Louth. Busses crossing the border from Northern Ireland have been searched for illegal migrants. However, recent reports show that Irish police and immigration officials have extended their operation to roads on the sprawling border between County Donegal and the UK.

In August, the GNIB led a two-day border policing operation targeting illegal entry into the Republic via border crossings in Donegal.

The Garda report to Ireland’s Policing Authority said “On both dates, static checkpoints were carried out at two border crossings to establish if the border crossings into Co. Donegal were being used by non-EU nationals for the purpose of entering the State illegally. All buses, taxis and suspicious vehicles were stopped and checked”.

Lord Nigel Dodds told the News Letter: “This exposes the position of successive Irish governments on a so-called hard border on the island of Ireland as hypocrisy on stilts.

“We were told repeatedly that there couldn’t even be a single camera on the border to check goods. Yet now it appears to be perfectly reasonable, according to the Irish, to have checks on cars, buses, lorries, for people, never mind goods.

“It is frankly nauseating to be lectured by Dublin politicians and their nationalist fellow travellers about an open border and yet there isn’t a squeak out of them when it comes to the current checks been carried out by the Irish authorities on their side of the border.

“This activity is of course perfectly legitimate and in line with the status of the international border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Yet the existence of that border was denied when it came to the movement of goods and trade.

“It was never intended that there would be a plethora of checks in any case for goods, but this illustrates that even if it were necessary, the Irish have no problem whatsoever when it comes to enforcing their interests.

“It is high time the UK government asserted its sovereignty in relation to the imposition by the EU (urged on by the Irish government) of a sea border dividing one part of the United Kingdom from the other.

“Such a border is not needed as there are solutions such as mutual enforcement which deals with the movement of goods between north and south.

“These immigration checks by Dublin illustrate that Dublin has absolutely no problem in principle with having checks on the border. Where now Leo Varadkhar’s waving of pictures of border customs stations? Where now Sinn Fein and their mock sledgehammering of a brick wall?

“It was always all politically devious tactics to divide the UK. Their hypocrisy has been well and truly exposed”.

In September 2024, the GNIB provided assistance to Operation Comby IV – a UK Home Office operation – which was conducted both in Northern Ireland and the UK mainland. It involved “enhanced checks at UK airports and ports, and at the border with Northern Ireland” to prevent illegal immigration.

The Irish government has previously said that an open border on the island of Ireland is a “key priority to the communities on both sides”, adding that Gardai wouldn’t be assigned to “physically police the border” with Northern Ireland.