People Smuggling: Republic of Ireland
2026-06-14 · Home Office · HL985 · Official question
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat people smuggling gangs using the Republic of Ireland as a route to gain entry to the United Kingdom for illegal migrants.
Answer
As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from Ireland to the UK, with no immigration checks being undertaken on the Ireland-Northern Ireland land border.The UK does however carr...