The minister for Justice and the British Home Secretary yesterday agreed terms for a bilateral exchange of fingerprints taken from asylum-seekers here.
The proposal to take fingerprints from everyone over the age of 14 seeking asylum in the State was questioned by the Refugee Council yesterday.
The council said fingerprinting should only be done to detect if an asylum application had previously been made in another EU country. The Minister said yesterday the fingerprinting of all asylum-seekers over 14 "would not criminalise or stigmatise" them. Such a system was already in place in other EU countries and the US, Mr O'Donoghue said.
Yesterday, the Minister met with the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw and the Home Office Minister with responsibility for immigration, Ms Barbara Roche.
A spokesman for Mr O'Donoghue said officials would begin work immediately on the exchanging of fingerprints.
The British government also agreed the basis for the exchange of information between the Garda's National Immigration Bureau and British police and customs.
The Irish side asked for the exchange of information about asylum-seekers travelling to Northern Ireland and into the State.