You're Not In Texas Any More

The idea of tramping about with no fixed abode might be all well and good in Texas, but don't be bringing that nonsense to Ireland.

Three Texas lads, aged between 19 and 21 and clearly up to no good, arrived at Dublin airport and were told that no, they couldn't come in. Ah sure there's cead mile failte up and down the island, but not so much welcome at the terminal as far as immigration is concerned.

Where will you be staying, the officer wanted to know, and isn't that the most reasonable question?

No doubt the Texas drawl was off-putting, when the gentlemen explained that they weren't staying in a proper hotel, but had made arrangements to crash on Irish sofas. With so much in the news lately, who would fault the immigration agent for not knowing about www.couchsurfing.com.

With plans to backpack across Europe for a year, Clin Zwirko, Ben Whitehurst and Gavin Sides thought they'd begin in Ireland and then ferry across to Scotland. From there, it's the Chunnel and all of Europe. They had no return tickets because they were going to move around and be gone for a long time.

What about visible means of support, the immigration man then asked. Three lads of the on-line generation had no copies of bank statements, but they were more than happy to log on to their bank's website to show that they had thousands saved up for this trip.

Ah sure Ireland's promoting a technologically savvy work force, but this is immigration we're talking about and they understand pieces of paper, not computer screen images. So there you are, the lads are skint and doesn't that prove that they're coming to Ireland for the social welfare or to steal jobs away from the hard-pressed Irish. To say nothing of attracting the cutest colleens and leaving Irish men to go stag.

The would-be travelers were deported and sent back to the States and now the Dallas newspapers have picked up on the story.

The Irish Tourism Bureau would like Garda National Immigration Bureau to explain itself. And spluttering about requirements being the same as those required of Irish people visiting the States isn't an acceptable reason.