CIVILIAN STAFF working with the Garda National Immigration Bureau are this month expected to end an industrial dispute that has prevented the operation of a €23 million computerised fingerprint system for three years.
The change of heart by the estimated 50 clerical staff in Dublin and Cork came after letters from Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan warning of disciplinary action if they continued to refuse to operate the system.
The staff, many of whom are members of the Civil and Public Service Union, have been threatened with sanctions including being taken off the payroll.
Mr Callinan last week said the Automated Fingerprint Identification System was working well in locations across the State, with the exception of the immigration offices in Dublin’s Burgh Quay centre and a smaller Cork office.
He said this was a source of “disappointment” to him, and he had decided to threaten the staff with disciplinary action because he had “run out of patience”.
The new system was ready for roll-out in 2009, two years after the expected launch date.
It is used to scan in and store the prints of those arriving in the Republic seeking asylum or a range of other permissions to stay.
Civilian staff in the two Garda and Department of Justice immigration offices in Dublin and Cork have been refusing to operate the system. This has meant people arriving from non-European countries have not had their prints taken in the past three years for the purposes of adding to their identity cards.
Possession of the prints enables gardaí to identify people wanted in other countries and those lodging bogus asylum claims or engaging in welfare tourism.
The Irish Times understands the civilian staff were now amenable to undergoing training with a view to operating the system in full in coming weeks. A spokeswoman for the union said the delay had in part been caused by health and safety fears. She said it was her understanding the full fingerprint system will go live on March 1st.
The staff had argued taking fingerprints was a job for gardaí. The Attorney General’s advice was there was no legal issue preventing civilians from doing this.
The staff were also concerned clerical officers would be put in an unsafe position if a person from whom they were taking prints was flagged by the system as a wanted dangerous criminal.
The Garda also uses the system to take fingerprints from arrested suspects and cross-check them.
