Willie Hay recounts being stopped by Gardái on Derry/Donegal border while arguing checkpoints happening on a ‘daily basis’

“We have had the great argument here about whether we should have a border on the mainland. I live about five miles from the border, in the city of Londonderry, and I cross it regularly.

"I have noticed that the guards have continual checks on the border there now and on all major border roads, because of immigrants using Northern Ireland to get into the south.

"In fact, I was crossing the border very recently and my own car was stopped, with the boot and bonnet checked. There were quite a number of guards, and they were there for some time,” the cross-bench peer declared during a debate on the movement of goods between the North and Britain.

The former Derry mayor claimed arguments about the need to avoid border checks rang hollow when they were occurring regularly.

"Not so long ago, I went to another border road, where we still had checkpoints. We were told that it would be wrong to have checkpoints, but they are happening on a daily basis.

“So, the nonsense that we could not have some sort of checks on the border was, in fact, total lies at the end of the day. But we must find a solution to the problems,” he said, during a debate on the Movement of Goods (Northern Ireland to Great Britain) (Animals, Feed and Food, Plant Health etc.) (Transitory Provision and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2024.

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