There is no question of discrimination against Irish nationals under the British ID scheme, writes Beverley Hughes.
As the British government moves towards introducing a system of identity cards, one of my top priorities is to ensure that our proposals and how they will affect people's lives are clearly understood.
That is the necessary foundation for an informed debate. It also avoids people being needlessly alarmed by inaccurate information.
It has been said that Irish nationals in Ireland and throughout Britain may have concerns about the introduction of an identity cards scheme.
Let me address directly some of the issues that have been raised. First, the status of Irish nationals under the Ireland Act 1949 will not be affected nor will their freedom of movement throughout the Common Travel Area (Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) be affected.
There is no question of actual or de facto discrimination against Irish nationals living in the United Kingdom, who will be treated in exactly the same way as British nationals as far as this scheme is concerned.
Second, our proposal is to build a base for a compulsory national identity cards scheme which will cover everyone who is legally resident in the UK: whether British, Irish, European or foreign nationals.
This will happen over a number of years as people renew existing identity documents like the British passport or their driving licence or opt for a plain identity card.
There is no question of the UK "springing" this measure on anyone. Indeed, we asked our ambassador to Ireland to alert the Irish Government on the day that the announcement was made to our parliament. Since then, we have had discussions with Irish officials about our proposals and we will continue to do so.
On our current plans, the first cards will not be issued before 2007-2008.
Third, there will be no additional police powers to require people to produce cards and carrying an identity card at all times will not be compulsory.
I believe that introducing a compulsory national identity cards scheme is an essential response to the many worldwide challenges faced by the international community.
Terrorism is now a global threat. Increased migration makes new demands on us to know who is crossing our national borders. It is no surprise that our partners in Europe and the US are moving towards measures to introduce biometric means of identification. The British government is keen to be able to participate in those developments.
Britain and Ireland aside, all EU countries bar Denmark already have such schemes. If Ireland were eventually to introduce its own biometric identification scheme, then we would want to ensure that we co-operate closely with it.
Opinion surveys show regularly show that about 80 per cent of our population are in favour of an identity cards scheme. A survey commissioned as part of our public consultation exercise showed the proportion in favour in Northern Ireland (76 per cent) was much the same as in the rest of the UK (79 per cent).
Identity cards are not about restricting people's rights or discrimination, they are a modern way of making sure that our citizens and lawful residents continue to enjoy their rights and freedoms in security.
Beverley Hughes is UK Minister of State for Immigration and Citizenship.