Waste of money, i think... so there hs to be another reason for it. Ireland and NI are on one island wouldnt be easier to make more checks on in and out of island? I see it as a nightmare. For example - I live in NI and will have to allow extra time to pick sombody up from Dublin Airport? ;\

Arthur, Ballynahinch, Down

Best start with Ryan Air. People fly to Europe from Ireland for £1 and then into Britain for £1.

james allen, manchester, england

The UK is being abused by EU and non EU, in the rest of the EU if stay you have to register with the authorities. So why not here as well.

andy, London,

So it's not going to affect the high-speed rail between Belfast and Dublin right?

Is this 'change' really to keep immigrants out or to keep Brits in, so that they can't escape broad and have freedom from the repressive taxation system?

Yeih for publicity stunts :)

John, Belfast, UK

I think this is great. Anything that deters illegal immigrants, fugitives or whatever - be they from the UK or mainland Europe gets my backing. (It might even help us keep check on the number of loutish Brits entering our lovely island and abusing our benefits sysyem!)

Mick, Cork, Ireland

Maybe this is revenge on the Irish for not accepting the Lisbon traety....sad people in Brussels telling Broon what to do again!

Gordon, Northwich, UK

The Shengen Convention was a gross mistake. Only criminals take advantage of it.

Agustí Sánchez, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, EU

This new measure reflects, better the anything else, the obsession of the Brits with isolation. They not only didn't join Shengen because they didn't trust continental europeans, now they don't even trust the Irish! Planet Earth calls Britain, can you hear us?

Horace, Florence, Tuscany, Italy, EU

I am a resident of Belgium. I cannot travel tp the UK without a passport. I can travel to other countries with my Belgian ID card. My son also resident of Belgium with a British passport has to carry this passport when visiting me in Belgium.

anita watts, brussels, belgium

Interesting, neither the governments of the U.K. nor Ireland have signed party to the Schengen Convention of June 1990-

Scott Benowitz, Rye, New York, U.S.A.

Absolutely ridiculous and a giant step backwards. The Common Travel Area predates either jurisdiction entering the European Economic Community (as was).

Passport-free travel within these islands should be maintained even if NI ceases to be part of the UK, or the UK itself ceases to exist.

Paul, Coventry,

All we need now is a sign saying 'Welcome to the UK, your now entering 'Britan's open prison', with the titles of the tv series porridge playing repetitively on a plasma screen...Normal Standley Fletcher...

A Jones, UK, UK

You wait till the SNP get their way. Then the Home Office will put border controls on the M6 at Carlisle.

The whole thing is daft. The Belgians aren't paranoid about the border with France. Why are we worrying about Ireland?

Kay Tie, York, UK

I also think this is a good idea, as both countries are being abused by non EU third country immigrants entering either Ireland or Britain to get into the other country.

Does this mean we can join the shengen agreement with the other major EU counties though?

Paul, Carlow, Republic of Ireland

Wow. Its only about 10 years too late, Anyone who was coming is already in the UK and Ireland. So now they spend the money only to harass the legals.

Peter, Vancouver. BC., Canada

I suppose we should be grateful that at least SOMETHING is being done - at last!

Brian Clacey, Croydon, UK