Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

PNR data was also used to good effect in apprehending Najibullah Zazi, an al-Qaeda operative who planned to detonate improvised explosive devices on New York city's subway system. The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI used PNR data to cross-reference the names of Zazi's co-travellers against open counter-terrorism cases inside the United States, resulting in the discovery that the co-travellers were travelling to Pakistani terrorist training camps. Zazi was arrested in September 2009 and the information from his PNR records was used in his questioning and indictment. He pleaded guilty in February 2010.

The unfortunate reality is that we live in a world where the threat of terrorism based on the activities of Islamic fundamentalists is substantial.