Fifty turned away over problems with travel documents

MORE than 50 people have been refused permission to land at Dublin Airport since the introduction of a link-up with Interpol’s stolen and lost travel documents database 18 months ago.

The measure has become a key part of immigration security and is also seen as a big boost to efforts to track the movements of suspected jihadis.

Before, checks with the Interpol database could only be carried out infrequently at the airport and usually in circumstances where there were already suspicions surrounding a document or the person carrying it.

The move was introduced as security measures were tightened in the wake of terrorist attacks in England and mainland Europe. Now travel documents can be cross-checked automatically.

The biggest problem facing immigration authorities is the number of asylum seekers whoturnupinDublin without any documents. Many have come across the Border after slipping into Northern Ireland from Britain on ferries.

The deputy director of the British national crime agency, Tom Dowdall, has claimed that people smugglers are “abusing” soft border controls between Ireland and the UK to transport illegals from here.

However, immigration officials here say this is a two-way problem, which is being tackled by close co-operation between the two countries.

This view is backed by the British Home Office, which said the Garda national immigration bureau, Police Scotland and other authorities were tackling abuse of the common travel area with intelligence-led checks and enforcement operations.

Another new initiative here became live earlier in the summer with the setting-up of the Irish passenger information unit, which will receive passenger name recognition data from airlines and exchange data and process results with other EU states and Europol. According to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, the measures will “greatly assist in strengthening the integrity of the EU’s borders, help to thwart serious criminals and terrorists”.

Since its introduction in November 2016, there have been around 12.7 million checks against the Interpol database at Dublin Airport.