Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the establishment of the new Garda Síochána fingerprint database. [34529/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to inform the Deputy that installation and commissioning of the first phase of the new National Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) went live on 22 October 2007. While the previous system met Garda requirements over the last ten years or so, advances in technology mean that the new system offers significant new capabilities and capacity including the ability to store palm prints as well as traditional 'ten-prints' and improved matching capabilities for poor quality or partial fingerprints taken from the scenes of crimes. I understand the Garda authorities are very pleased with the operation of the new system which has already produced a greatly improved 'hit' rate for latent marks taken at crime scenes. Indeed, I myself witnessed the impressive system in operation at its recent launch.

Work is now under way on subsequent phases, which will be delivered during 2008, and will provide for the capture and storing of a person's fingerprints upon registration by the Garda National Immigration Bureau as well as the ability for GNIB officers to capture prints at ports of entry including sea and air ports. Full integration of the new AFIS with the Garda PULSE system and GNIB Information system will also be delivered in the coming phases.

The AFIS system is just one of a broad range of information technology systems being delivered to assist An Garda Síochána in the fight against crime. Other projects include a Major Incident Management system, Automatic Number Plate Recognition system and the new Digital Radio Service. A total of €102m is allocated in 2008 for Information Technology and Communications related projects.