Irish Sea border: what has changed between Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

A customs barrier in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Great Britain? 

“No UK prime minister could ever agree to it,” Theresa May told the House of Commons in 2018.

By August 2020, her successor, Boris Johnson, was vowing: “There will be no border down the Irish Sea – over my dead body.”

Even on New Year’s Day 2021, the Northern Ireland secretary was rebutting a BBC story that began: “The first goods have crossed the new trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.” 

Brandon Lewis insisted on Twitter: "There is no ‘Irish Sea Border’. 

“As we have seen today, the important preparations the Govt and businesses have taken to prepare for the end of the Transition Period are keeping goods flowing freely around the country, including between GB and NI.”

Yet a customs and regulatory frontier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), with is exactly what the government has established – complete with customs declarations and inspections, border control posts and officials checking that consignments are in line with European Union rules.

The alternative would have been a hard border with customs checks between the Republic of Ireland and the north, which all parties sought to avoid.

As a result, Northern Ireland  has become more European, not less, with a hitherto unthinkable geopolitical model that divides it from the rest of the UK and aligns it more closely with Ireland and the other 26 EU nations.

There are also significant changes for individual travellers. These are the key consequences.

No, except in two narrow and unusual circumstances.

First, if you are travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with more than €10,000 (£9,100) in cash, cheques or banker’s drafts you must declare the fact in advance, explaining where the money came from, to whom it belongs and how it will be used. 

Second, many travellers (in non-Covid times) travel from England and Wales to Northern Ireland via the republic. Ireland is in the Common Travel Area and therefore no passport is legally necessary. But airlines may insist on seeing one as identification; Ryanair routinely does.

Incidentally, motorists travelling to Northern Ireland via the republic, for example Swansea-Holyhead-Dublin-Belfast, will need a Green Card from their insurer for the drive through Ireland.

Yes, when travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (effectively going into the European Union for customs purposes), though not in the opposite direction.

For individual travellers, rather than freight consignments, the checks are likely to be light touch. 

Most meat and milk products made in Great Britain are banned.

The government gives the example of “cheeses with added herbs, sausages with garlic [and] yogurts with added fruit” as items that cannot be carried from Great Britain to the EU without an export health certificate. So finish your picnic before arriving in Northern Ireland.

The usual EU customs limits of one litre of spirits and 200 cigarettes to not apply to alcohol that was bought in England, Scotland, Wales or the Isle of Man, and you have already paid both VAT and excise duty on them. But if you have flown from, say, Dubai to Manchester and then travelled on to Belfast, the limits will apply to those purchases.

No restrictions apply when travelling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

No additional customs checks or restrictions will apply, whether you are travelling from Belfast to Barcelona or from Dundalk (in the republic) to Newry (in the north).

But anyone seeking to exploit the absence of customs checks between the European Union and Northern Ireland and from there to Great Britain is warned against “Belfast bootlegging”.

“We are clear that we will continue to tackle smuggling and illegal activity in all circumstances,” said a UK government spokesperson.

The Northern Ireland Protocol means that there are restrictions on travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with a pet for the first time.

The animal – whether a cat, dog or ferret – must be microchipped and have a valid rabies vaccination. At least three weeks must elapse between the rabies jab and travelling.

For each journey, the pet must have an EU animal health certificate (AHC) confirming the microchipping and the vaccination, issued within 10 days of entry to Northern Ireland.

For dogs, tapeworm treatment must be administered between one and five days before entering Northern Ireland.

Vets are expected to charge around £100 for the certificate. A new one is required for each journey.

Travelling with a pet from Northern Ireland to Great Britain has not changed.

Pet owners in Northern Ireland continue to have access to the EU’s pet passport scheme, but they will need a new “UK (NI) branded“ document. This is not yet ready and vets are temporarily extending existing pet passports.