Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. I would have raised it as a priority question but the latest event occurred past the date for submitting such questions.

The abuse of Irish passports is gravely worrying and reflects a failure, I am sad to say, on behalf of those responsible for the implementation of effective security measures to protect the security of Irish passports following the events that occurred in Dubai earlier this year. It is becoming increasingly clear that international undercover agents are accessing the passport information of Irish citizens with ease for use during their covert operations. It has taken the exposure of a Russian spy ring to highlight the latest abuses and as was the case in Dubai the Irish authorities were completely oblivious to the theft of information until other governments pointed it out.

It was initially reported that only one Irish passport was involved in the uncovering of the spy ring in the United States but it has now emerged that several Irish passports are involved. The security of British passports was significantly reinforced immediately following the Dubai assassination but no such security enhancements have been implemented to protect Irish passports, despite the fact that they were abused in exactly the same manner. I would like to mention the sort of security reinforcements which have occurred in Britain. It has changed, with effect from 1 October, the passports it will issue. New passports will incorporate images of well-known scenes recreated through special printing techniques. The new passport replaces the e-passport which was brought in four years ago to comply with the United States' visa waiver programme.

Other security features, I understand, include moving the chip that stores the holder's details to the inside of the passport cover so it is no longer visible and adding a transparent covering, which includes several holograms. The new passport images will also stretch across two pages instead of one. I point this out because there is research on how one can further improve the security of passports. I have no doubt that if we do not have the wherewithal in this country to do that we could perhaps contact the identity and passport service in the United Kingdom to see if we could copy its new methods of improving security.

I was also disturbed that until yesterday it would appear that no contact was made with the Russian Embassy despite the fact that when the Dubai scandal broke the Government called in the Israeli ambassador and, ultimately, an Israeli diplomat was expelled. I do not know why we seem to have failed to act as quickly with the Russian Embassy but I also read that visas were issued from that embassy in respect of passports which were ultimately forged, with the original user's passport was forged.

There are serious questions to be answered. I hope the Minister of State will give an assurance that every possible step is being taken to guarantee the sanctity of the Irish passport which for many generations was regarded very highly. I hope it will continue to have a high reputation throughout the world. We do not want to be involved in spy rings and other activities of a corrupt nature. I sincerely hope that the Minister of State, Deputy Power, whom I am delighted to see in the House, can give us a guarantee that these security steps will be taken, answers will be obtained from the Russian Embassy and the appropriate action taken, if necessary, so that we will not have any recurrence of this situation and that other possible abuses may be sent a warning that Ireland will not tolerate this type of behaviour under any circumstances.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank Deputy Barrett for raising this important issue.

On Sunday, 27 June, US federal agents arrested ten people in the states of New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts for allegedly carrying out long-term deep cover assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation. A total of 11 defendants, including the ten arrested, were charged with conspiring to act as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation within the United States, while at that time one defendant remained at large. The affidavit lodged by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, to justify the bringing of charges against the defendants alleged that one of the defendants travelled to Moscow using a false Irish passport and that another travelled on a false British passport. A search of the Irish passport database confirmed that a valid Irish passport with the same details as those on the alleged false Irish passport had issued in 2001 to an Irish citizen.

On being made aware of these allegations, the Minister for Foreign Affairs asked the passport service and An Garda Síochána to undertake an investigation into the alleged use of a false Irish passport. This investigation is under way at present and it would be inappropriate for me, at this stage, to speculate on its conclusions. However, I can inform Deputy Barrett that the Garda has since received information alleging that as many as six Irish forged passports using material cloned from the valid passports of Irish citizens may have been used and involved in the case in question.

I can confirm that a small number of citizens have been interviewed by the Garda and the passport service. While there is no evidence that those whose passport details have allegedly been used are under any threat or have been inconvenienced while travelling, they are, as a precautionary measure, being issued with replacement passports.

There has been no delay in carrying out the ongoing investigations. The allegation of the fraudulent use of Irish passports was made by the agency of a foreign government in a foreign jurisdiction and concerned events outside this jurisdiction. Accordingly, the investigation requires the assistance of agencies from other countries. The process of gathering and substantiating evidence in such circumstances has therefore been time consuming but it is hoped that the investigations will be completed within a couple of weeks.

The Government regards the fraudulent use of Irish passports as a most serious matter and we constantly seek to improve the security of passports. I understand that the passport books allegedly used were of a type produced by the passport service prior to 2005. There have since been major enhancements to the security features of the current passport book and the Government is satisfied that this now makes the production of a counterfeit Irish passport much more difficult, although clearly not impossible for agencies with substantial resources. In addition, procedures for confirming the identity of first-time passport applicants have been tightened with a view to preventing fraud during the application process.

The Government's concern about these allegations has been conveyed to the Russian authorities. On 1 October, senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs informed the Russian ambassador and a senior official from Moscow who was visiting Dublin on other business that the Government was investigating US allegations on the use of forged Irish passports by Russian agents and made clear that the Government takes serious exception to the forgery and misuse of Irish passports. The Russian officials were also informed that, depending on the outcome of the current inquiries, the Government may seek the assistance of the Russian authorities in furthering this investigation.

I would point out that there are significant differences between the current case and that involving the use of forged Irish passports by Israeli agents earlier this year. In the Israeli case, the announcement by the Dubai authorities of the alleged use of forged Irish passports was accompanied by the publication of photocopies of the documents in question and video evidence linking the persons whose photos appeared in the forged passports with a murder for which Israel refused to deny charges of responsibility. In the circumstances, it was entirely appropriate to immediately call in the Israeli ambassador and to ask for Israel's assistance in explaining the matter. In the current case, where less evidence was publicly available at the time the allegation was made, the Minister for Foreign Affairs decided first to assess the nature of the evidence collated by the Garda and the passport service before deciding whether he himself should meet with the Russian ambassador.

I am aware many Members of the House will have seen a headline in a newspaper this morning which suggested that the Russian ambassador, in a meeting with the representative of an NGO operating in Russia, sought to link the passport allegations with progress on the negotiation of a bilateral agreement with Russia on adoption. These reports have been checked out, including with the NGO representative in question, and I can assure the House that there is no substance whatsoever to this headline. Furthermore, I can categorically state that there has been no attempt by the Russian authorities to link the passport allegation to any aspect of our bilateral relations.

Ireland and Russia have traditionally enjoyed very good relations as evidenced by the successful visit to Russia undertaken last month by President McAleese. Russia is an important trading partner and growing market for Irish goods and services as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Situating this matter in its international context, we should not forget that the US allegation that a Russian agent had used a fake Irish passport was part of a wider US claim that a Russian spy ring was operating on its territory. This announcement was made only days after a highly successful visit to the US by the President of Russia. The spy ring episode was quickly and amicably settled with no apparent harm to US-Russia bilateral relations. Furthermore, the British Foreign Secretary is in Moscow today seeking to develop UK-Russia relations, notwithstanding recent strains and the allegation concerning the use of a forged British passport by a member of the same spy ring.

This is not to belittle the importance of allegations which, if confirmed, would represent a very serious affront to Irish sovereignty and to the Irish citizens whose identities have allegedly been cloned, but rather to situate this incident in the wider perspective of the conduct of international relations. Regardless of such considerations, whenever the Government has solid evidence that Irish passports have been forged or misused by a foreign government or its agents, we will, in accordance with the Irish national interest, make clear our strong objection in a firm and appropriate manner.

Once the Minister for Foreign Affairs, my colleague Deputy Micheál Martin, has received the reports of the Garda and the passport service into these most serious allegations, he will consider the evidence presented to him before reporting to the Government and recommending whatever course of action he believes appropriate. He will then inform the House on the findings of the investigation and any action the Government should decide to take on foot of those reports.