Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 178: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will clarify the issue of national identity cards; if, since 1973, EU nationals are free to travel here on their national identity card; if the Swiss and other countries also have this facility; his plans to have a national identity card, including the examination of this issue that has been made and the reason Ireland has not proceeded with the implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29064/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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For the purposes of this question a national identity card is a document issued by the authorities of a state so as to establish the nationality and identity of the person concerned. In many countries in the EU possession of the Identity card is compulsory for all nationals of that state. This sort of document should not however be confused with cards of a more limited function, e.g. public service cards. In addition to its application within the borders of the issuing state, the national identity card has a further travel related function for nationals of EU member countries and also those from Switzerland and the EEA countries of Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. For the purposes of entry to Ireland, national identity cards of Member States, and those other countries referred to above to whom the same rules apply, are acceptable under EU free movement rules essentially on the same basis as passports. I have no plans at this time to introduce a national identity card system. Any final judgement as to the necessity or desirability of such a system would have to include a full assessment of the implications of the introduction of identity cards in the UK as well as developments in the rest of the EU.