Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

While this is the main issue for us, Britain, Spain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Belgium, Finland and most of the other states are considering similar systems. Ultimately, either through Interpol or Europol, these systems will have to work together.

Our difficulty is our land border. In the development of the British and Irish systems those involved in the project team will find ways around it. The old common travel area no longer works. For security reasons people are being asked to show identification. That identification will inevitably become passports as passports become the central way of tracking and communicating information. There will be a need to increase border security. It is also desirable to deny entry to those who do not qualify for entry to Ireland. We must examine these issues. That is being abused in a large way at present. We must take account of that.

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