Britain: British Home Secretary Mr David Blunkett is coming under pressure to explain the implications of his planned national identity card scheme for Irish citizens living in Britain and Northern Ireland, writes Frank Millar in London
Radical proposals outlined by Mr Blunkett on Tuesday leave the final, technical decision on whether to introduce a compulsory nationwide ID card to a future parliament in 10 years' time.
However millions of British citizens will start acquiring what, in effect, will be compulsory identity cards in just four years as passports and driving licences requiring renewal incorporate biometric features such as an iris or fingerprint.
And before then, from 2006, an estimated 4.6 million foreign nationals seeking to live and work in the United Kingdom for more than three months will be required to have a biometric identity document.
The Conservatives have already identified this as a fundamental flaw in a scheme which Mr Blunkett insists will boost the fight against international terrorism, as well as against illegal working and immigration abuse.
And last night veteran Labour MP Mr Kevin McNamara suggested that the government "appears to be flying by the seat of its pants and doesn't seem to have thought through the implications of its proposals".
Mr McNamara made his comment as he tabled a Commons question asking Mr Blunkett what discussions he has had with the Irish Government about his proposals, and to spell out the implications (a) for Irish citizens living in Great Britain and (b) for persons living in Northern Ireland entitled under the Good Friday agreement to define themselves as Irish citizens.
Irish citizens living in Britain are entitled to freedom of movement and to the same benefits as British citizens under the Ireland Act of 1949, which decrees they will not be treated as foreign citizens.
The Irish Government expressed concerns twice during the early 1990s when the last Conservative government considered the merits of an ID card system - first to fight "benefit tourism" and then, later, as an an anti-terrorist measure.
And British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw is known to have raised the question of people in Northern Ireland, and at least one million Irish living in Britain, as part of his objection to Mr Blunkett's plan.
There is no suggestion that the Home Office is thinking of treating Irish citizens - in common with citizens from other EU states - as foreign nationals.