Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 167: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his proposals to deal with passport requirements for entry to the Schengen area; the way he proposes to deal with differing biometric requirements for passports for entry to both the United States and Great Britain-Northern Ireland not being part of the Schengen area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18907/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is the international body responsible for the specification of standards for international travel documents. ICAO policy requires that all passports in circulation in April 2010 be machine readable. Ireland commenced issuing machine readable passports in 1993. The ICAO has also defined the technical specifications for the issue of passports which incorporate biometric data, known as e-passports, but has not yet set the date by which all passports in circulation must be e-passports.

As regards the United States, Washington required that countries, participating in its visa waiver program, commence issuing e-passports by 26 October 2006. Ireland in fact began issuing e-passports on 16 October, 2006, in accordance with the ICAO standards and in advance of the US requirement date. This involved the incorporation of a biometric feature -a facial image — in the Irish passport. A passport is not required for entry to Great Britain from this State. The Irish passport, however, meets fully the requirements for entry to Great Britain from third countries.

As regards the Schengen area, Council Regulation (EC) 2252 of 2004 requires Schengen countries to include a facial image and fingerprints in their passports. The requirement for the inclusion of a facial image came into effect on 28 August 2006, while the requirement for the inclusion of fingerprints is to come into effect on 28 June 2009. However, as the Regulation relates only to Schengen countries, Ireland is not subject to its application. There are currently no plans to include a second biometric identifier, such as fingerprints, into Irish passports.