The government was concerned that a failure to go ahead with the planned introduction of a US pre-inspection facility at Dublin Airport 30 years ago would be a major political embarrassment.
The planned opening of the new facility in March 1994 was due to coincide with the introduction of direct flights between Dublin and the US following the ending of the controversial “Shannon stopover”.
The stopover meant that all transatlantic flights to and from the United States had to stop in Shannon even if they were destined for Dublin. It was a rule which carriers resented and was abolished in 1993.
State papers released by the National Archives show the US authorities were seeking a condition that staff operating the pre-inspection facility would be regarded as US embassy staff.
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US officials pointed out that the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) had a need for cost-cutting in its operations following an audit report which recommended pre-inspection facilities be abandoned completely, including the one at Shannon Airport, as they did not represent value for US taxpayers.
Pre-inspection allows people travelling from Ireland to pass through border scrutiny before their flight rather than on arrival in the United States.
Files show Irish civil servants indicated the matter would be treated “sympathetically” as staff at the Irish Embassy in Washington had had to engage in high-level lobbying to secure agreement on the INS facility at Dublin Airport.
They acknowledged that the US could “afford to be tough with us” on the issue of the status of staff at the facility in Dublin.
One official noted that they envisaged being instructed by the government “to give the Americans what they wanted” if there was a threat of the pre-inspection facility in Dublin not going ahead because of its importance for Ireland’s economic interests.
The additional traffic expected from Irish fans travelling to the World Cup in the US in the summer of 1994 added further urgency to the situation.
Files show the Irish ambassador in Washington, Dermot Gallagher, contacted the US attorney general, Janet Reno, in February 1994 about the issue on the basis of the government’s “deep concern” about the possible ending of the pre-inspection facility at Shannon and the associated risk of the one in Dublin not going ahead.
A confidential memo showed that a senior civil servant advised that the government should accede to the request of the US government, even though it was not a “run-of-the-mill” request.
It was ultimately agreed the pre-inspection facility in Dublin would operate on a temporary basis up to September 30th, 1994 after its official opening in March that year to allow for the issue on the status of INS staff to be formalised.