MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Jim O’Callaghan said today he is “fairly confident” the government has or will in the near future “vigorous” screening systems to help tackle the number of people illegally entering Ireland.

The minister told reporters in Limerick: “I think we will be operating a very effective screening program once we enact and commence the International Protection Bill that I’ve got approval from government to draft, and it’ll be brought into the Oireachtas at the end of the year.”

O’Callaghan said that the current “Eurodac system”, which assesses asylum applicants into Ireland will be “upgraded” in June, to include “a full biometric analysis performed in respect of any individuals who are coming in seeking international protection in Ireland”.

Concerns were reported yesterday that because Ireland does not have access to certain EU security databases available in Schengen member states, it may not be able to carry out robust screening identity checks on asylum applicants.

O’Callaghan said Ireland was not part of Schengen because “we want more robust systems in terms of protecting our borders”.

“So I’m fairly confident that at present and certainly in the future, in June, that we will have very vigorous mechanisms in place to assess and ensure that we properly have information on individuals claiming international protection in Ireland,” he said.

O’Callaghan said he previously visited the Eurodac screening system in place at Dublin Airport and found that all international protection applicants were “fingerprinted”, and are checked against Europol’s watch list “to see whether or not they have applied for asylum in other EU countries”.

However, the Minister acknowledged “there’s an issue arising in terms of individuals coming down from Northern Ireland” to the Republic.

He warned: “Our systems have to become much stronger as time goes on.”

While Ireland is a welcoming country for people “fleeing persecution”, he added, “we need to have a system in place that ensures our security is properly preserved”.