Irish MEPs urged to back controversial passenger data legislation

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has written to Ireland's 11 MEPs urging them to back contentious legislation that aims to facilitate the pooling of data about air passengers between EU member states.

In a letter seen by The Irish Times, Ms Fitzgerald says that Ireland views the passenger name records (PNR) proposal as a "priority" for the EU.

She says the Oireachtas approved Ireland's participation in the measure in April 2011 in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution.

While noting that some elements of the proposal "may be seen as contentious", she says the Government believes that the current proposal strikes the appropriate balance between protecting freedoms and ensuring Europe has "the necessary means at our disposal to combat those who, for their own malign ends, seek to attack those freedoms".

The letter, which was sent to MEPs before last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris, comes as EU leaders prepare to debate counter-terrorism at the summit in Brussels.

Resistance

The PNR directive has been stalled in the European legislative process amid resistance by the

European Parliament

over data privacy concerns. While Fine Gael’s four MEPs back the proposal, Sinn Féin’s three MEPs are against the directive in its current form, with a number of Ireland’s Independent MEPs also unwilling to back the proposal.

EU leaders are expected to call for the swift implementation of the directive at tomorrow’s summit, at which counter-terrorism will be high on the agenda.

France and Belgium have been leading calls for a greater effort at EU level to combat the threat of "foreign fighters" – EU citizens who return to Europe having fought for jihadist causes in the Middle East.

The issue was debated by the European Parliament in Strasbourg today, with MEPs backing a resolution in favour of finalising the proposal for a PNR directive by the end of the year. It also called on the European Council to work on the adoption of the separate data protection directive in parallel.

Liberal group Alde and the Greens group have been the most vocal opponents of the current proposal in the European Parliament, arguing that it infringes on citizens' rights and will not adequately curtail terrorism.

‘Knee-jerk’ reaction

Sinn Féin’s

Matt Carthy

told

The Irish Times

that his party continued to have concerns about the proposal and warned against a “knee-jerk” reaction to the recent terrorist attacks.

“We would have very strong reservations about any blanket data collection proposal. We don’t necessarily believe that such proposals lead to better security. Instead we think there should be more of a focus on preventative policies,” Mr Carthy said.

Fine Gael's Brian Hayes said today that the European People's Party, of which Fine Gael is a member, was broadly in favour of PNR. "While there may be some concerns, the overriding priority is safety and enhanced security co-operation," he said.