From a rather sideways view found in the Limerick leader comes the following article
Austria?
WHAT is the value of creating a joint European borderguard to stop illegal immigration, if people can simply arrive by sea?
We have eight ships to patrol over a thousand miles of coast and inlets, and a national seaspace which stretches out into the Atlantic for 200 miles.
But if we spot people smuggling people or drugs or arms off the coast of, say, Wexford, we can pursue them only to half way and hope that the British will take over from there.
We also need a unified coastguard, with powers of chase and arrest in every jurisdiction. In our case that would simply mean co-operating with the UK, especially in the vicinity of Carlingford Lough and Lough Foyle. I decided that last week.
And then, next day, out of the blue, I got a missive from John Cushnahan, the FG MEP, who lives in Lisnagry.
He told me that a common sea patrol has been initiated to tackle illegal immigration by five EU Member States, namely Spain, United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Italy. Observers are also taking part in the scheme, code-named Ulysses, from Greece, Norway, Germany, Poland and Austria.
Which was fascinating news to receive, apart from one thing: what the blazes is Austria doing observing coastguard operations. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the place entirely landlocked? Not only that but most of it is about a mile above sea level, and will soon be surrounded by fellow EU states on all sides except its border with Croatia.
WHAT is the value of creating a joint European borderguard to stop illegal immigration, if people can simply arrive by sea?
We have eight ships to patrol over a thousand miles of coast and inlets, and a national seaspace which stretches out into the Atlantic for 200 miles.
But if we spot people smuggling people or drugs or arms off the coast of, say, Wexford, we can pursue them only to half way and hope that the British will take over from there.
We also need a unified coastguard, with powers of chase and arrest in every jurisdiction. In our case that would simply mean co-operating with the UK, especially in the vicinity of Carlingford Lough and Lough Foyle. I decided that last week.
And then, next day, out of the blue, I got a missive from John Cushnahan, the FG MEP, who lives in Lisnagry.
He told me that a common sea patrol has been initiated to tackle illegal immigration by five EU Member States, namely Spain, United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Italy. Observers are also taking part in the scheme, code-named Ulysses, from Greece, Norway, Germany, Poland and Austria.
Which was fascinating news to receive, apart from one thing: what the blazes is Austria doing observing coastguard operations. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the place entirely landlocked? Not only that but most of it is about a mile above sea level, and will soon be surrounded by fellow EU states on all sides except its border with Croatia.
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