Legislation allowing the State to exchange information relating to criminal records with other countries is to be prepared, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said.
The Criminal Records Information System Bill is to set out procedures relating to the transmission of information between Ireland and other countries and place an obligation on the Garda to inform other states when their citizens of are convicted of criminal offences in Irish courts.
The legislation would see the Garda Commissioner given responsibility for maintaining a national criminal records register that would include centralised records of both domestic and foreign criminal convictions. It would allow Irish authorities to access criminal information held in other states for use in investigations undertaken in this jurisdiction.
The Bill would also allow access to criminal records of people seeking to enter the State to work in positions that require vetting.
Similar proposals are to be introduced in all EU countries following the publication of an EU framework.
“This will considerably improve the intelligence information available to police forces regarding persons with criminal convictions,” the Department of Justice said.
The department said the Data Protection Acts already apply to criminal records information held by the Garda and that this allows any person to obtain information about their own criminal record and to have inaccuracies corrected or deleted.
“In view of the fact that our EU membership provides a common travel area between member states, it is increasingly important to have effective systems to exchange information regarding criminal records of persons moving between states,” Mr Shatter said in a statement.
