February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
And that day is scheduled to come by the end of this month.
The two met on Monday and the D_il was due to debate on Tuesday the details of the necessary legislation to legalize the agreement. The enabling legislation has already been passed by the Irish senate, Seanad Eireann.
“In the course of these discussions, Secretary Napolitano confirmed that pre-cleared aircraft arriving from Ireland would be allowed to land at U.S. domestic airports, as well as U.S. international airports,” a statement issued after the meeting said.
Secretary Napolitano confirmed that the U.S. was fully committed to pre-clearance at Shannon, notwithstanding any downturn in flights to the U.S. during the winter months.
“Secretary Napolitano and I had an excellent discussion this morning on the introduction of pre-clearance for flights to the United States from Irish airports. This follows on from the landmark agreement on pre-clearance that I signed with Ms. Napolitano’s predecessor, Michael Chertoff last November,” said Dempsey.
“Both the U.S. and Irish governments are looking forward to the inauguration of this service, which will commence with commercial flights from Shannon on 29 July, while pre-clearance for general aviation is scheduled to commence there in the autumn. Both the secretary and I agreed that pre-clearance will bring great benefits to both our countries,” Dempsey added.
Officials from Dempsey’s department will travel to Washington in the coming days to work out the final details on how the pre-clearance facilities will operate.
Pre-clearance facilities are due to be operation at Dublin Airport by next year. The Irish government is of the view that what it describes as a “landmark aviation agreement” has the potential to create thousands of jobs in Ireland and potentially turn Ireland into a hub for U.S. bound passenger setting out from elsewhere in Europe.
Under current arrangements, Shannon and Dublin only offer U.S. immigration pre-clearance and passengers from Ireland must line up to clear customs and agriculture inspection when they arrive in the U.S.