A biker friend recently vroomed up the length of England to Scotland, took the ferry from Stranraer to Belfast port, then crossed back and forth into the Republic during an extended tour of the Irish relatives. All without a single official ID check. Even he – a young liberal of Irish heritage, well-informed legally and culturally on border matters – was surprised enough to mention it.

He had read the guidance in the ferry company’s email: “Irish and British citizens travelling on our Irish Sea routes do not need a passport to travel to Britain or Ireland but are advised to take a form of identity. A valid passport, photographic driving licence, international student card, government issued photo ID cards, health insurance/social security photographic cards, photographic bus/train pass or EU Citizen Identity Card will usually suffice.”

He packed at least three of those documents. Apart from an “extremely cursory” security inspection in Stranraer – an “0.5 second check” on the box on the back of the bike - no one asked to see any of them. No one checked the ID of this “single, unvetted, military age male” as he might be labelled in certain circles. Perhaps security checks in the Common Travel Area (CTA) are really that weak.

The fact that he was checked even for half a second is surprising. For last Monday’s piece on the CTA – under which........

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