Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
383. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Justice if the Border management unit of her Department utilises facial recognition technology; the safeguards that are in place to prevent abuse of this technology; the costs paid to providers for the operation and maintenance of this technology since it was first utilised by the unit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53331/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe State has a duty to protect its borders and to ensure that all arriving passengers are entitled to enter the State. This is a fundamental exercise of State sovereignty, which is necessary to protect the security of the State and to prevent illegal immigration.
The Border Management Unit (BMU) of the Department has responsibility for frontline immigration duties at Dublin Airport only. An Garda Síochána has responsibility for frontline immigration controls at all other airports and ports. Immigration Officers conduct passport checks on arrival to ensure passengers are properly documented in accordance with Section 11 of the Immigration Act 2004 and Automated Border Control (ABC eGates) are used as part of that function.
The ABC eGates offer certain categories of arriving passengers (passport holders from the EU, EEA, Switzerland and UK who are over 18 years of age and hold a modern, chipped passport) a "self-service" type channel to clear immigration control instead of being processed manually at an immigration booth.
The facial recognition technology utilised by the ABC eGates at Dublin Airport occurs only at the point of use and matches the individual user of the ABC eGate to the travel document which the user has presented. The ABC eGates do not match or export facial images to any external database or source.
Cost related to ABC eGate expenditure include the supply of hardware, software and all associated maintenance; I am advised that for reasons of commercial confidentiality and as a procurement exercise for these services is currently underway, I should not disclose the level of costs paid to providers in this regard.
