Ireland's exclusion from the Schengen territories

Over the past week it was quite astonishing to read the excuses from the level of the Garda press office right up to Justice Minister McDowell himself on why the two individuals allegedly involved in the despicable and disgusting activity of accessing child pornography may escape justice.

Pat Kenny, in his radio programme, even went so far as to suggest that our absolute loyalty to monolingualism may have been a possible reason in that no one in the Garda was able to read the message in 'high' German. The subscription cable and satellite to home TV and radio services in Ireland accentuate this emphasis by limiting their very basic services entirely to English and, oh yes, must-carry TG4.

We should remember that the Austrian authorities, from whose country this material was sourced, sent the warning message out to some 80 countries throughout the world and Ireland, whether we like it or not, was treated as just one of many. But the countries belonging to the "Schengen" territories would have got a more intensive briefing as is shown in most situations involving acts of criminality including clandestine immigration to judge by the number of 'hits' I get as I monitor references to Schengen daily.

It seems that our media are not aware of the grave drawbacks of Ireland not being a member of Schengen even though the Garda would seem to be well aware of it as they face the flack on a daily basis in a definite lack of cooperation from police forces in the 14 countries involved. The word 'Schengen' is deliberately left out of 'for Irish consumption' dispatches whereas the same item as presented on mainland Europe media will always cite Schengen where it is in context. It is remarkable to note that new Union member the Czech Republic is being admitted to Schengen on the 31 December 2007 while they are in the unenviable position of having 66 people involved in the case above who cannot be prosecuted because astonishingly, they don't have laws prohibiting this type of activity. It was, apparently, this news item from within Schengen and aspiring Schengen countries that sparked the media interest /alert leading to the sudden 'discovery' in Ireland.

On a personal level I always sense the cold hostility on arrival at Schengen airports as I go through the passport control process seeking permission to land, as a foreigner like an American or Chinese, with my fellow from Ireland arrivals, that ultimately allows us to pass freely within the 14 countries, to simply travel, without let or hindrance, within my Europe of which my country has been, albeit in a second class position, officially in union membership for 33 years.

Noel A O Cainte, Clontarf, Dublin 3