ENHANCED SECURITY at airports worldwide was now part and parcel of the experience of air travel, Minister of State for Transport Noel Ahern told the Dáil. The events of September 11thand terrorist attacks in other parts of the world, have made us more aware than ever that terrorism is a global problem,” he added.
He was introducing a motion, which was agreed, approving Ireland’s participation in the processing and transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data between the EU and Australia.
Mr Ahern said the agreement would provide legal certainty for air carriers and EU-based reservation systems to transfer PNR data to Australian customs in compliance with EU data protection law.
“It will be valid for a period of seven years, thus ensuring legal certainty for EU air carriers and reservation systems for a considerable period,” he added.
Mr Ahern added that the agreement only applied to EU-sourced PNR data for those passengers travelling to, from or via Australia. He said that there was a balance to be struck between public security and citizens’ privacy rights.
“The European Commission, in line with the mandate it received from the member states, sought to strike the balance in the negotiations with the Australian authorities,” said Mr Ahern.
“I believe that it succeeded in achieving that objective and that the agreement contains significant checks and balances.” Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan said much depended on the integrity of the system and if it was effective. They should remember, he said, that Ireland was an EU member. That meant Ireland had responsibilities along with its EU colleagues.
Labour’s Tommy Broughan said the global nature of organised crime and terrorism had, understandably, given rise to the need for much greater co-operation.
Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the House should be careful when agreeing to pass data to other countries that did not have the same standard of protection as Ireland.
