I am aware that Ireland had some remaining governmental ties to the UK between
1921 and the establishment of the republic in 1949. My statement that its
existence as a separate nation dates from 1921 is based on the Irish Free
State's status equal to that of Canada within the Commonwealth of Nations. Would
you argue that Canada, Australia, Belize, and dozens more members of the
Commonwealth aren't separate nations?
I couldn't figure the article out either! It appeared in a Belfast newspaper,
but it seemed to complain of illegal immigration into the Republic. It might
have been nothing more than propaganda from one contentious side or the other.
I'm just saying that when a nation joins with one or more others into a common
travel area, it has delegated its immigration protection to all other members.
A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. If commercial laws and taxes
differ at all between or among the member nations, then smuggling is free to be
practiced and entirely to be expected.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Meynell" <knm@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Timely article about IE (ROI?)-UK
> Lowell,
>
> >If that's their choice, they shouldn't be surprised that the border attracts
> >various misconduct. They have invited it, so they shouldn't complain.
>
> I honestly didn't understand the point the article was trying to make. The
> UK and the ROI, plus the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man operate a common
> travel area, and anyone entering one member state, is free to travel
> without restriction to any of the others. If there's a problem with illegal
> immigrants (or whatever), then the problem is at the points of entry to the
> UK, not at the border.
>
> >True, but a boundary must exist if Ireland wants to be a separate nation from
> >the United Kingdom, which it became in 1921 after long agitation.
>
> Strictly speaking this is not correct. The ROI initially achieved
> self-government as the Irish Free State in 1921, but this was only dominion
> status within the (then) British Empire. It's certainly true that it
> increasingly exercised de-facto sovereignty in the inter-war years, but it
> only became a truly separate nation when a republic was declared in 1949.
>
> Even now, the UK and the ROI are still very intertwined in many ways. For
> example, there are no immigration controls between the two countries, ROI
> citizens are able to stand for and vote in UK elections, UK military forces
> are still raised in the ROI, and in many sports (e.g. rugby, cricket) the
> whole of Ireland is represented by one team.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kevin Meynell
>
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