ENTERPRISE IRELAND asked the Government last November to put in place new immigration procedures at Dublin airport after members of an Indian delegation it invited to Ireland reported being harassed on arrival at the airport.
A senior official at the agency wrote to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on November 11th seeking to agree a procedure to enable Enterprise Ireland (EI) to "pre-clear" certain invited "VIPs" in order to ease their passage through the immigration counters at the airport.
In a briefing paper marked "confidential", Enterprise Ireland's head of Government relations described how one of its executives, who was of Indian origin, had experienced "discrimination" at the airport last February when accompanying a group of education journalists to Ireland.
"Two of the four women in our delegation expressed the views that they were harassed as they progressed through immigration at Dublin airport despite EI credentials," wrote the official.
"Indians in particular are very sensitive to discrimination (whether real or imagined) and the acuity of this antenna rises on the journey to Europe."
The correspondence was released to The Irish Timesunder the Freedom of Information Act.
The official suggested that the incident was similar to others described in an article published in September in The Irish Times, a clipping of which was included.
The piece, based on controversies over immigration procedures at Dublin airport, carried details of concerns raised privately by Tourism Ireland after an Indian tourist who won a trip to Ireland complained of harassment.
The Enterprise Ireland briefing paper was sent to the department in advance of a meeting between its officials and their counterparts in the Department of Justice on the subject of foreign business people entering the State.
It explained that the agency regularly had reason to invite "key business people, foreign government officials" and others to Ireland to encourage them to source materials here or to open new export markets for Irish goods.
"EI wishes to explore the possibility . . . to enable EI to be allowed to potentially 'pre-clear' certain 'VIPs' through immigration," it stated.
In a subsequent e-mail to the agency's overseas managers the following day, the same official said the Department of Justice "reacted favourably" to the briefing. A pilot scheme would be put in place whereby EI guests would present a letter to gardaí at the airport outlining the purpose of their visit, their accommodation arrangements and contact information for EI staff.
Immigration procedures at Irish airports came under scrutiny last year when a Nigerian Catholic priest who travelled here on a tourist visa was arrested at Dublin airport before being strip-searched and placed in a prison cell on suspicion of trying to enter the country illegally.
Separately, documents released by Tourism Ireland showed that an Indian tourist complained of harassment and racial discrimination at Dublin airport after having won a trip to Ireland at an event sponsored by the agency in Mumbai.
Its chief executive wrote to the secretary general of the Department of Arts and Tourism to express concern about such incidents and their potential to damage attempts to develop new tourist markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Department of Justice points out that there is no automatic right to enter the State, and immigration officers have to make "judgment calls" on the basis of the circumstances in each case.