“ETIAS is currently not in operation and no applications for travel authorisations are collected at this point.” That is all the EU’s official ETIAS website now says on timing. The last-quarter-2026 target was deleted in July, and by late September neither the European Commission nor eu-LISA, the agency building the system, had named a new date.
According to the Financial Times, eu-LISA considers a 2026 launch unachievable; the Commission has not confirmed a delay. US, UK, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passport holders still enter Europe on their passport alone, the only new border step being the biometric Entry/Exit System, fully operational since April 10, 2026.
The EU has promised several months’ notice, then at least six months in which travellers meeting the other entry conditions are not refused for lacking one. Irish citizens, as EU nationals, are not concerned.