Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the Fourth Monitoring Report of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance on Ireland which found that there is no legislative bar on the use of racial profiling in policing here; his plans to adopt legislation prohibiting any form of racial profiling in policing. [11548/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the report of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and also of the fact that the report makes no allegation that such profiling is actually carried out. This is not surprising given that an Garda Siochana do not engage in racial profiling. The question of whether we should create a legislative prohibition therefore needs to be considered in that light.

This is of course a complex matter. Ireland has become a much more diverse society and indeed the nature of Irishness has evolved as many people from overseas have made their homes here. At the same time immigration control is an important national interest and our laws must be enforced. I believe however that it is perfectly possible to operate an effective system of immigration control without resorting to racial profiling but relying instead on good intelligence and the professional judgement and experience of our Gardai and immigration officers and indeed this has been demonstrated to be the case. I will consider this matter further in the development of the Immigration Protection and Residence Bill which I propose to republish later this year.