Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 November 2016
157. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of her Department's interactions with the European Border and Coast Guard and the eu-LISA agency; if Department or other State body personnel have been seconded to those agencies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36348/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe EU Regulation which establishes the European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG formerly FRONTEX) constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC; Ireland is therefore not bound by the Regulation or subject to its application.
However, Article 51 of the Regulation provides for operational cooperation with Ireland and the United Kingdom on specific activities including the organisation of returns. Ireland may request to participate in specific activities of the EBCG and any such request is reviewed by the ECBG management board who decide on such requests. Provision is made in the Regulation on information exchanges between EBCG and Ireland related to the activities in which Ireland takes part. Ireland is invited to the meetings of the Management Board of the EBCG and is currently represented on the board by Chief Superintendent, Garda National Immigration Bureau.
The European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA) is responsible for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the fields of justice and home affairs under Title V of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in particular the Schengen Information System (SIS II), the Visa Information System (VIS) and the Eurodac system. Ireland attends meetings of the Management Board of the agency and is represented by An Garda Síochána at Superintendent level. My Department, the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and An Garda Síochána have interacted with the eu-Lisa agency in relation to the recent project to update Ireland's national Eurodac systems (bio-metric database for comparing fingerprints) as required by our participation in the Eurodac Regulation (EU) No.603/2013 (recast).
