Operators’ financial failure insurance is no longer valid for sales over the border following Brexit, meaning agencies in the Republic of Ireland have been blocked from selling any travel departing from Northern Ireland.

Mark Clifford, managing director of O’Hanrahan Travel in Monaghan, south of the border, said restrictions applied to “pretty much all UK-based tour operators if they don’t have a licence to trade in the Republic of Ireland”.

“That was not the case prior to Brexit,” he said. “We are five miles from the border and we can’t take reservations for package holidays ex-Belfast or Derry for either southern or northern residents. The irony is clients can log on and book without any problem.”

The issue also means affected agents cannot easily amend existing bookings.

Emma McHugh is managing director of Atlantic Travel Worldchoice in Letterkenny, County Donegal, another affected agency.

“We have a huge amount of bookings for 2020 that we can’t move on,” she said. “We are locked out of the systems and we have to ring through instead.” Changed booking references meant options like free child places on original bookings were no longer valid, she added.

She said the agency’s location meant Belfast International airport was closer than Dublin. “We are less than two hours from Belfast and three-and-a-half hours from Dublin. 

“Until this year there was no problems with that. We were able to dynamically package some stuff and use Tui and we agreed commercial terms with Jet2holidays. After 1 January that went on its head. Now we have no options flying out of Northern Ireland.”

She said several agencies had been affected. “Between ourselves and another agent, we had £1 million of Jet2holidays business for 2020 from Belfast. “For the operators, it’s not much, but for us, it’s huge.

McHugh said she had offered to fund the cost of insurance for each Jet2holidays sale but had been rebuffed, meaning the agency is now blocked from the operator’s booking system. 

“We can get insurance, but that makes us the principal. It doesn’t work for us, there’s too much liability. It’s such a pity, we would have done a huge amount of business with them," she said. 

“I could have customers that I have to turn away and they can go 10 minutes down the road (over the border) and book it. It’s very frustrating, because 2022 will be a bumper year.”

Jet2holidays said it was constrained by Brexit. A spokesperson said: “We cannot proactively market holidays to customers outside the UK as this would be in breach of Atol regulations. This applies to our Atol-protected package holidays sold via independent travel agents.
 
“As a responsible tour operator, we will always operate in line with our obligations under both the Atol regulations and Package Travel Regulations.

“We are continuing to investigate the options available to us to enable us to sell holidays via our independent travel agency partners based in the Republic of Ireland, however ensuring our package holiday sales are financially protected will be our number one priority.”

Pat Dawson, Irish Travel Agents Association chief executive, said insurance cover amounted to “£5-£6”.

“Agents have said they don’t mind sucking it up; it’s not a case of it being an extra cost to the operator; but that’s not even been considered. Maybe it’s a direct sell policy, because people in the south can book directly,” he said.

The ITAA has lobbied the Irish Aviation Authority and the CAA. “We know they are holding discussions; we would encourage them to rethink,” said Dawson.

“Maybe they felt business in the north does not justify cooperating with agents in the 26 counties.”

Clifford added: “I believe MSC have fixed it and Royal Caribbean are fixing it. The two biggies are Jet2 and Tui. There doesn’t seem to be an appetite to fix it unless the Commission for Aviation Regulation Ireland changes their tone in terms of the amount of security wanted.”

However, a Tui spokesperson indicated a willingness to address the issue: “As a result of Brexit, our business in Ireland has had to put a temporary halt on making cross-border sales, while we await further clarity on the agreements made between the EU and the UK surrounding financial assurance,” she said.

“We’ve also temporarily paused agreements we have in place between Irish and UK entities that facilitate such sales. We hope to be able to put these products back on sale as soon as possible.”