Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Each person aged 14 years or older that enters the International Protection process is fingerprinted and photographed. These fingerprints are checked against Eurodac, an EU database which stores the fingerprints of asylum applicants and those who have crossed borders illegally.

In 2023, there were 13,277 applicants for international protection in Ireland, and of these 10,999 were aged 14 years or older.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business under section 26 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended). Interactions between An Garda Síochána and EUROPOL are operational matters for the Commissioner. Furthermore, the Deputy will appreciate that EUROPOL is a separate, transnational organisation that rests outside of my remit as Minister.

I am informed that An Garda Síochána does not input fingerprints on the Europol Information System (EIS).

An Garda Síochána directly contacts Member States and third party countries via the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) if a search on fingerprints is required. As a result, there are no figures available for fingerprint checks against EIS.