Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I thank the Minister for his contribution. In some ways, this is necessary legislation. In other ways, it is a bit like watching paint dry, especially when talking about going through the motions. I am not sure whether I will be here when we get around to the motions on Switzerland in a while.

I wanted to discuss the wider issues of all this booking information that is provided by passengers and collected and held in reservation systems. We know the content of the PNR data varies depending on the information given during the booking and check-in process, but it would include passenger names at all stages. Whether or not the travel itinerary of the passenger is included in the PNR data is another story. It makes sense in terms of trying to figure out where suspected criminals and terrorists are coming and going, if they are going to drug havens, etc. That is all well and good, and I could see why would opt in to have that.

I will start at the end first and support what Deputy Carthy said regarding people with deportation orders. Presumably, the standard PNR data should be able to be used because it talks about certain types of circumstances and certain situations where privacy is being protected. In a situation where someone has been told they have to vacate the country and do not have leave to remain in Ireland, surely it is in our national interest to find out whether the people are still in the State or whether they have tried to leave the country or travelled onwards through other countries to the final destination.

However, I want to go back to the starting point. As we know, someone can arrive in Ireland without a passport under United Nations rules, claim they are fleeing persecution and it can take a long time to go through the asylum process. I commended the Minister before on his statement to the effect that we can try to get through the whole process much quicker than previously. If the Minister is able to comment on this, I ask him to please do so. My understanding is that Ireland is not always happy with some of our EU partners in terms of the information they pass on when people travel through European Union member states and then arrive here with no passport and claim asylum. I would like to know whether we have the right, or the means in legislation to get the right, to ask companies like Ryanair to take routine scans of passports as people are going through and retain that information for up to 60 minutes after a plane lands. I know the Minister mentioned that there are sometimes checks at the point of disembarking but some people come without a passport, claim asylum and say they are from a particular state or are fleeing persecution in a particular country. There is no way of verifying that and the process drags on with appeals, etc. Surely, if it is possible to get this information, either through PNR data or by means of a mechanism requiring the likes of Ryanair and Aer Lingus to provide a simple scan of a passport, we could then say to such persons that they may have arrived without a passport but we have a picture that looks a lot like them and a document that says they are coming from a certain jurisdiction or country. That would help in identifying the individual. While the person could say the passport is forged and they got it from X, Y or Z, at the same time it provides more pertinent information than we had previously. In the context of the opportunity provided by this PNR debate, is there any way PNR data can be used when people arrive without a passport to get information that might have been provided to the carriers or is there a separate mechanism whereby the carriers can be requested to provide it? Given the large numbers who have come here claiming asylum, some of whom are genuine, while others are not, is there a way of getting that information so that we can process claims faster?

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