Overview
- Newly released Irish State Papers detail Christy Moore’s 2004 stop at Holyhead, where he reported being locked in a room for more than two hours and questioned about his lyrics while none of his equipment was searched.
- Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs raised the case at a 1 December 2004 meeting with the UK Home Office as part of wider concerns about the treatment of Irish travellers in the Common Travel Area.
- The Irish side flagged unwitting photography at ports and airports, Schedule 7 stops under the Terrorism Act 2000, and ‘carding’ that asked passengers to provide personal details.
- UK ports policing commander Bob Milton called inappropriate questioning a training matter, said locking an examination room was at the officer’s discretion, and acknowledged a potential health and safety issue.
- British officials said photographs were used to prevent boarding-card swapping and kept no longer than 48 hours, agreed to improve signage and training, accepted giving airlines records when detentions cause missed flights, and declined to comment on individual cases; the documents are in National Archives file 2025/127/1.