Ireland Expands Diplomatic-Passport Visa Waiver and Tightens Transit Rules
New ‘Stamp 2 Bridging Permission’ Gives English-Language Students Time to Start Degree Courses
Bank-Holiday Travel Surge: Shannon Airport to Handle 56,000 Passengers as New Routes Take Off
Latest News
EES Biometric Border Goes Live—What It Means for Irish Travellers Outside Schengen
The EU’s biometric Entry/Exit System is live, digitising passport stamps across 29 Schengen countries. Ireland remains outside the scheme, but Irish residents travelling to Europe will face new fingerprint and facial-scan procedures, and airlines must verify entry permissions in advance. Employers should prepare travellers for longer first-entry queues and watch for ETIAS developments.
Dublin Airport warns passengers to plan ahead as May bank-holiday traffic set to smash records
Dublin Airport expects a record 465,000 passengers over the 3–6 May bank-holiday weekend, with peak traffic of 121,000 on Friday. The DAA is urging travellers to arrive early and has boosted security and border-control staffing. The surge, fuelled by sports events and holiday demand, highlights ongoing capacity concerns that could affect Ireland’s competitiveness for business travel.
Cabinet moves to end commercial contracts for Ukrainian refugee housing as state shifts to ‘own-door’ model
Ministers have decided that the State will let existing hotel and guest-house contracts for Ukrainian refugees expire and replace them with modular villages and other longer-term solutions. The shift is intended to cut costs and improve integration but could create short-term displacement risks for employers and local communities.