Are there any other Irishmen here totally pissed off with having to ask permission weeks in advance to go home and having to say where you will be, where you will enter and leave and when and who you will be staying with? It hardly makes for a relaxing holiday. It seems to me that it might be (and I stress the "might", I am not a lawyer) to be a rule that would not stand up if challenged in court. Not allowing a citizen of a country to enter that country? An interesting thought in these days of unrestricted movement in the EU. It is vastly easier for an illegal immigrant to get to Dublin than it is for me!
I'd like to make the blighters who enforce this rule without thought submit a detailed application weeks in advance before visiting their parents/girlfriend etc. in deepest Berkshire - then they might just see why it pisses us off no end and probably causes many people to sign off. This is supposedly a positive security issue - actually it's a negative retention issue.
And before some supposed wit poses the question as to why the Army needs Irishmen, let me pre-empt you: Wellington, Alanbrooke, Montgomery... need I go on?
I'd like to make the blighters who enforce this rule without thought submit a detailed application weeks in advance before visiting their parents/girlfriend etc. in deepest Berkshire - then they might just see why it pisses us off no end and probably causes many people to sign off. This is supposedly a positive security issue - actually it's a negative retention issue.
And before some supposed wit poses the question as to why the Army needs Irishmen, let me pre-empt you: Wellington, Alanbrooke, Montgomery... need I go on?