Formal border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be introduced to prevent the movement of illegal immigrants to and from Britain, according to proposals published by the two governments today.

The proposals would constitute a “substantial change” to the Common Travel Area (CTA) established in 1925.

Throughout the Troubles border checkpoints were common, but the porosity of the border has come under renewed scrutiny because it was feared it was a soft touch for people traffickers and illegal immigrants.

The British and Irish governments will also step up to catch non-British and non-Irish nationals travelling between the two countries, but, according to a joint statement, they insist there is “no intention to introduce fixed border immigration controls on the land border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland”.

In 2007 a new border control team, based in Belfast, was introduced to tackle the problem of human trafficking and travellers who over-stay.

The Home Office consultation document stated: “We intend to carry out checks on passengers and their documents on sea and air routes arriving and departing from the UK from the UK to the Republic of Ireland for border control purposes.

“The introduction of routine immigration checks represents a substantial change to the UK’s operation of the CTA.”

The paper also proposed new laws to allow searches of vehicles travelling to and from the Republic of Ireland, under which airlines and ferry operators could be fined for carrying passengers to Britain without the correct paperwork.

In a joint statement today, Dermot Ahern, the Irish justice minister, and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “We will tackle the challenges we face head on through the use of state of the art border technology, joint sea and port operations and the continued exchange of intelligence.

“We are both introducing electronic border management systems so we can count people in and out of the country, and identify those people who may be of interest to our law enforcement authorities."

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