Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 481: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if Irish citizens travelling to Britain via Northern Ireland and British citizens travelling to Britain via the Republic of Ireland will be required to produce passports under proposed new arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29240/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I assume the proposed new arrangements that the Deputy refers to in his Question relate to recent media coverage that Ireland and Great Britain are in the process of developing electronic border information systems.

I understand that both systems will be developed on the basis that data is collected in respect of passenger travel and run against watchlists of persons of interest to both States. There will be collaboration between the two jurisdictions to maximise the benefits that can be derived from the operation of the systems.

My officials have been informed that there is a provision in the British e-Borders contract for the supplier to provide data on passengers travelling between the UK and Ireland. While the manner of the collection of such data has not yet been finalised, the use of passports for this purpose cannot be discounted as they already contain some passenger information in electronic format. However, I would like to assure the Deputy that there are no fixed controls on the land border between North and South and there are no plans to introduce any such controls.

The first phase of the development of an Irish Border Information System will focus on travel between this State and countries outside the Common Travel Area. The capture of data on passenger travel within the Common Travel Area is something that will be considered at a later stage.