Over 400 Irish flying to the US fingerprinted in Dublin airport

More than 400 Irish citizens were fingerprinted and photographed in Dublin airport yesterday, under new regulations for entry into the United States.

Citizens of 27 countries, including Ireland and most EU states, allowed to travel within the United States without a visa for up to 90 days, must now submit to fingerprinting and photographing to gain entry, even if planning a short holiday in the US.

Previously only those requiring a visa to enter the US had to undergo the stringent security measures. The new procedures, which came into force yesterday, are intended to deal with the delay in introducing "biometric" passports in the 27 countries.

Under US legislation, enacted after the September 11th attacks, visa waiver states - including Ireland - were expected to introduce passports with biometric data such as fingerprints and iris scans by October 26th this year.

However, because most countries are unlikely now to meet this deadline, the US has reduced the requirement to an insistence that all passports be machine-readable by the October date. Biometric passports will be required at a later date, probably within the next two years.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Ireland, said the new system ran smoothly in Dublin airport yesterday and they received no complaints from travellers.

"Over 400 Irish passport holders have gone through the new procedures at Dublin airport and it seems to be going quite well so far."

US immigration "pre-clearance" already takes place in Dublin and Shannon, and the new security measures were not causing a significant delay to that process, he said. "It maybe adds another 15 seconds to the whole procedure.

"The fingerprints just involve a quick scan of the right and left index fingers and the photograph happens automatically, without you even being conscious of it. On the whole it's not an onerous burden.

"This makes travel safer for everybody. It's done openly and there is nothing surreptitious about it."

Children must also have their own passports for entry into the US after the October deadline.

Those still on their parents' passports must hold a visa.