Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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62. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to roll out the civilianisation of immigration control, which is already being undertaken at the Dublin Airport Terminal 1 by members of the Irish Naturalisation Immigration Service, to the other main ports of entry, including Cork Airport, given ongoing reforms of An Garda Síochána; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18621/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Since 16th June, 2015, front-line immigration controls are being undertaken in Terminal 1 at Dublin Airport on a 24/7 basis by civilian staff from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department. In October, 2015 INIS civilian staff took over the front-line immigration controls in the Transit Area of Terminal 2. A Public Appointment Service (PAS) recruitment competition for Immigration Control Officers is currently under way from which the necessary additional staff will be recruited to complete the civilianisation of front-line controls in the remainder of Terminal 2 which is expected to be completed as soon as possible.

In relation to expanding the civilianisation programme to other ports of entry, I have indicated that I am also looking at deploying civilian officers to other major ports of entry to the State where this makes sense from a cost and efficiency perspective. In circumstances where An Garda Síochána will maintain a presence at our ports to continue their crucial policing role in protecting our borders from a security and enforcement perspective, one of the requirements of further civilianisation at other ports of entry will be to achieve the right balance between Gardaí and civilian staff. In this light, the nature and volume and time distribution of passenger traffic at certain ports of entry will be a determining factor in any decision to deploy civilian immigration officers.