THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR to Ireland’s decision to decline an invitation to appear before a Good Friday Agreement Oireachtas committee has been criticised as “a disgrace”.

In a letter released by Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín, British Ambassador Paul Johnston said that he could not attend a meeting of the Joint Committee of the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

He added that he could write to the committee about the British Government’s position on the UK’s Nationality and Border Bill, and its approach to the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past “if it would be helpful”.

Under the UK’s Nationality and Borders Bill, any non-Irish or non-UK citizens would need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation to enter the UK, including Northern Ireland. The bill is currently going through the House of Commons.

“If the Committee has any specific questions about these matters, I would suggest the clerk of your committee sends these to me within the next week and I will endeavour to address them in my reply,” Johnston wrote in a letter dated last week.

Peadar Tóibín has criticised the Ambassador’s decision to refuse the invitation.

“There can, under no circumstances, be a reduction in the freedom to travel on the island of Ireland. This is an egregious breach of the Good Friday Agreement and a unilateral step to the detriment of the people of Ireland, without their consent.

“I raised this issue at the Oireachtas Good Friday Agreement Committee, and I was very glad to get cross-party approval of the Aontú proposal to invite the British Ambassador to Ireland to testify before the committee, to hear the concerns of the public representatives of the Irish people.

To have the British Ambassador refuse this reasonable invitation to discuss these concerns, is a disgrace and I would call upon the Government to take a firm response to these attempts to segregate Ireland.

When the UK’s bill was brought up in the Dáil before Christmas, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the proposed new travel rules were “something we could do without”.

“I’m not clear as to the de facto implications it will have, it will be of concern because we have a seamless movement of people on the island of Ireland.”

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Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said at the time that “unfortunately, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise”.

“If you recall, part of the argument in favour of Brexit was about controlling their borders, and also about reducing and stopping immigration from the European Union, and this is part of the outworking of that.

“It may be the case that some people who voted for Brexit didn’t realise that but it is part of the outworking of Brexit that the United Kingdom is going to harden its borders and is going to reduce immigration, including from the European Union.

Ending free movement was a big part of the argument that they made. But we will absolutely be making our views known.