Thousands of Irish people travelling home for Christmas and the new year had seasonal presents of duty-free alcohol and perfume confiscated because new EU security rules had not been implemented in time, it has emerged.
The problem arose with travellers from outside the EU who took advantage of duty-free sales at their point of departure, only to find that when they attempted to change aircraft in EU airports, liquids, including alcohol, and tobacco were confiscated for security reasons.
The European Commission has acknowledged the difficulty after a similar situation the previous Christmas, but despite an agreement reached with the transport commissioner Jacques Barrot as long ago as last July to change the rules, the amended measures were never implemented.
At the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday, Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle described the situation as a "public relations disaster" and one which could lead to a negative view of the Union in the lead up to the Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty. She called on Mr Barrot to implement the changes at EU airports as a matter of urgency.
According to the MEP, there is ample scope among secure airports in third countries to permit an arrangement where goods bought in the secure area, airside of passenger screening, can be carried in transit through EU airports where the passengers have not left the secure area.
"I find this particularly frustrating as it is a repetition of the same sequence of events that occurred in the run-up to Christmas 2006," she told MEPs.