AIRLINES AND FERRY companies will face higher fines for undocumented passengers from today, the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced. 

The new measures will increase fines on carriers from the previous maximum of €3,000 to a new maximum of €5,000 if they do not comply with their obligations to ensure passengers have appropriate travel documentation.

The increase brings Ireland closer to the fines issued by other European countries and takes account of inflation, the Department of Justice said, adding that the increase was necessary to maintain the effectiveness of the fines.

McEntee said, “Carriers such as airlines and ferry companies play an essential role in protecting and upholding our borders and they are obligated to ensure their passengers have the necessary valid passports, ID cards and visas to travel to Ireland”.

“My Department is working closely with them to support them in these obligations, including through the provision of training. However, where the rules are not followed, increased fines will now apply”, she added.

Further measures clamping down on the issue of undocumented passengers will follow at a later date, the Department said. 

These will include “guidelines to assist carriers and consideration of the feasibility of a dynamic fines model which recognises carriers who strongly enforce documentation requirements”.

The Minister has previously introduced measures aimed at reducing the number of people arriving in Ireland without proper documentation, including “introducing visa requirements to travel to Ireland from a number of additional states and the expansion of accelerated processing of International Protection applications”.

Additional funding has also been provided to the Garda Airport Liaison Officer programme, Border Management Unit (BMU) and International Protection Office.

The Department said that the BMU and Garda National Immigration Bureau have carried out more than 4,500 doorstop operations at airplanes “to target those who destroyed documents inflight” in the first half of 2024.

These measures have contributed to a reduction in the number of people arriving at Dublin Airport without proper documentation, with the Department saying “the numbers arriving without the correct documentation for 2024 are on-course to approximately be 50% of that in 2022″.

An Garda Síochána has also arrested 115 people for arriving without appropriate documentation in the first half of 2024. The Department also said that a “significant number have been convicted”.