Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 478: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to introduce a system of sharing personal data, fingerprints and future DNA profiles held by authorities here with the US Government. [3352/12]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 479: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the offences which he intends to exempt the State from being obligated to provide personal data on under the terms of the agreement between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United States of America on enhancing co-operation in preventing and combating serious crime. [3353/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 478 and 479 together.

The Agreement between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United States of America on Enhancing Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Serious Crime was signed on the 21st July 2011. It requires the approval of the Dail under Article 29.5.2 of the Constitution and a motion seeking the approval of the Dail is due to be considered by the Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality in the coming weeks. The signing of this agreement assists in maintaining Ireland's ongoing eligibility for participation in the United States' Visa Waiver Programme.

The Agreement provides that fingerprint and DNA reference data from each country's national databases, when established, should be shared in specific defined circumstances. Under the Agreement, which is similar to the EU Council Decision on enhancing cooperation in combating cross-border crime, a search can be made by one party of the database of the other to establish if a match for specific data exists. There is no sharing of data at this stage, it is simply an anonymous check which results in a 'hit' or a 'no hit'.

Should the search procedure show a match for the data, a request can then be made for additional information. However, any sharing of the details of the data will be governed by the provisions of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the USA. In that context, I would emphasise that those provisions require that the data can only be provided in the context of a criminal investigation or prosecution.

Sharing of data related to minor offences are excluded under the Agreement. In this regard a minor offence is one which, upon conviction, attracts a sentence of imprisonment of less than one year.