David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a few questions about this. The national fingerprint database is mentioned here. The committee has done a great deal of work on the DNA database, and there are issues with medical licensing and fingerprinting in that as well. The Prüm decision covers that. There is also the visa information system. The Minister says we will not be ready for this anyway. The Office of the Attorney General has advised that if a member state does not make a request, the regulation poses no obligation on it to comply with the relevant conditions. What is the situation if a member state makes a request?

Second, what is our position with the technical systems the Minister mentions, which will not be in place by 2015? What timeframe do we have? I realise there are budgetary constraints and that we seeking help from the European Union for funding for that. Will the Minister discuss that?