Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 379: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the ports, airports, border crossings which are approved points of entry to the State; the same which have a 24 hour Garda presence; the same which have a 24 hour immigration officer presence; the steps which are being taken to improve technology and screening at each point of entry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18091/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The airports listed below have been prescribed by Ministerial order (SI 57 of 2004 Immigration Act 2004 (Approved Ports) Regulations) as approved ports for non-nationals (other than seamen) arriving by sea or air from outside the State pursuant to Section 6(2) and 20 of the Immigration Act 2004: Carrickfinn Airport; Cobh; Connaught Airport; Cork; Cork Airport; Dublin; Dublin Airport; Dun Laoghaire; Farranfore Airport; Galway; Galway Airport; Greencastle; Moville; Rosslare Harbour; Shannon Airport; Sligo Airport; Waterford; Waterford Regional Airport.

The arrival of persons across the border with Northern Ireland is provided for by Section 4(5) of the Immigration Act 2004. No particular crossing point is approved, rather persons who are not visa required or visa required nationals in possession of a valid Irish visa may cross at any place they wish, but must subsequently seek permission to be in the State under section 4(1) of the Immigration Act 2004.

There is a 24-hour presence of Garda Immigration Officers at Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports; all other ports are resourced so that an Immigration Officer is available for all arrivals from outside the State. Section 4(2) if the Immigration Act 2004 places an obligation on all non nationals arriving in the state by air or sea from outside of the State to present himself or herself to an immigration officer and apply for a permission to enter the State.

The GNIB, in consultation with my Department, have planned, tested, and rolled out a state of the art computerised registration system (GNIB-IS). The main capabilities and functions of the GNIB-IS are: the registration in the State of all non-EEA nationals who are then issued with a system-generated Registration Smart Card; administering the collection of fees for Immigration Registration Certificates; the administration of the Carriers' Liability system in the State; facilitating the exchange of Immigration data sets between GNIB and the UK thus enabling the identification of Immigration offenders from one jurisdiction attempting to enter the other jurisdiction; provision of a platform to enhance the Intelligence capacity of GNIB; tracking the details of non-nationals who are granted leave to land or conditioned on entry to the country, those persons refused leave to land, as well as details of all deportation orders that have been issued by the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform; and provision of functionality to inquire on external information sources such as Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Dept. of Foreign Affairs, the Dept. of Enterprise, Trade & Employment and the Dept. of Social & Family Affairs.

The system is accessible at over 100 locations nationwide, including all Immigration Registration offices and all the major ports and airports of entry to the State. The development and deployment of a new integrated electronic fingerprint system, which will be linked into the GNIB-IS, is nearing completion. Deployment continues at Garda stations nationwide and an element of this deployment will include the installation of fingerprint equipment at ports of entry across the State. This equipment will be used to assist immigration officers at Ports in the processing of persons who seek to enter the country, who are refused leave to land or who claim asylum.

Officials in my Department are also in the process of developing an Irish Border Information System. This system will operate by processing passenger data supplied by carriers and matching it against watchlists to detect persons of interest entering or leaving the State. This system will be a significant tool for the Garda Siochana, and indeed the other State agencies involved, in meeting their respective law enforcement mandates.