Written answers

Wednesday, 7 November 2007

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Border Controls

9:00 pm

Photo of Pat RabbittePat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 89: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the discussions he has had with the British authorities regarding their plans for the introduction of an electronic border control system by 2009; if the Government will introduce a similar system here; the implications of the British decision for Ireland's immigration control system; the implications for travel to and from Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27361/07]

Photo of Brian Lenihan JnrBrian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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There has been ongoing liaison between officials from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) and their British counterparts since 2005, both on the development of the British e-Borders system and to assess the potential benefits which would accrue to Ireland if such a system was to be developed here.

I am advised that the British authorities are close to finalising a contract for the provision of their e-Borders system, which is due to be rolled out in the period 2008 to 2014. I also understand that there is a provision in the e-Borders contract for the system to provide data on passengers travelling from this Jurisdiction to Great Britain. However, I am advised that no decision has been made as to how or when in the roll-out programme, this data will be captured.

A Project Development Team (PDT) has been put in place chaired by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) to scope out the development of an Irish Border Information System. The PDT comprises representatives from all the Agencies which may benefit from the advancement of the concept in this country including An Garda Síochána, the Department of Finance, the Revenue Commissioners, the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Social & Family Affairs, Enterprise, Trade & Employment, and Transport. The PDT has unanimously supported the development of a system in Ireland. I expect that a Memorandum containing detailed proposals will be submitted to Government early in the New Year.

The Irish system, as currently envisaged, would be similar in some ways to the British system. Passenger information will be collected by carriers and sent to an Irish Border Operations Centre (I-BOC) where it will be screened against immigration, Garda and other watch-lists. In the event that a match occurs the relevant agency concerned would be alerted immediately, enabling them to take appropriate measures to intercept, question, stop or arrest the individual concerned.

INIS and the PDT consider it prudent to develop such a system incrementally. It would be intended to commence with a number of long haul air routes and perhaps one watch-list, increasing over a period of 2 years adding more carriers and routes (air and sea) as well as watch-lists, until all passenger movements between the State and countries outside the Common Travel Area (CTA) are embraced by the system (about 15 million passenger movements annually at the present time). The capture of data by the Irish Border Information System in respect of passenger travel within the CTA would be considered when the first phase of the system, as described above, has been developed and is being rolled out.

While a significant feature of the development of an Irish Border Information system and the British e-Borders system will be to protect the integrity of the Common Travel Area, the following benefits will also accrue from the development of an Irish system: detecting immigration offenders in the CTA; detecting criminals, especially serious criminals; detecting other persons of interest attempting to enter or leave the State; collection of immigration trend data; strengthening border controls; combating terrorist threats.

It is clear that the extent to which the British and Irish systems can operate to their optimum, particularly in the context of the security of the Common Travel Area, will be dependant on the quality of the watch lists that are provided by participating agencies and the level of information sharing that can be arranged with the British authorities. In respect of the latter point, it is intended to seek to build on the ongoing exchange of immigration data sets between the two jurisdictions.

I can confirm that there are no fixed controls in respect of persons travelling between North and South and there is no possibility of introducing such controls in the future. Of course I am concerned, and I know that this concern is widely shared both here and in Great Britain, that persons can exploit this absence of fixed controls to move illegally within the CTA. In this regard, I would like to emphasise that the Garda National Immigration Bureau, the British Border and Immigration Agency and the British police work closely together and run regular intelligence led operations aimed at interrupting such illegal movement. These joint operations have successfully prevented foreign nationals moving illegally between the two jurisdictions. Officials from my Department, the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the British Border and Immigration Agency are examining ways to further build on this cooperation.

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