Agreement on flight data of US-bound travellers passed

The Dáil has backed by 95 votes to 16 the new agreement between the US and the European Commission on the transfer of data held by airlines on travellers from EU states to the United States.

The agreement, which comes into force today, was renegotiated after the European Court of Justice ruled it illegal.

Since February 2003 airlines flying into the US have been providing electronic access to information on their passengers to US immigration authorities as part of a package of anti-terrorism measures.

The passenger name record (PNR) data being provided includes 34 separate items, such as names, addresses, credit card details, contact persons, meal choices and any notes made by airline staff.

Minister of State for Transport Pat "The Cope" Gallagher, who introduced the measure, pointed out that "in a sense the provision of the information is voluntary, but if one wishes to travel to the US, its provision is obligatory".

Fine Gael's transport spokeswoman, Olivia Mitchell, described it as a "form of paranoia on the part of the US authorities that they would require this kind of information, but on another level one wondered what use the information being transmitted would be to anybody in determining whether a terrorist attack was being planned".

The Labour Party's spokeswoman, Róisín Shortall, said that the concerns regarding citizens' rights "had not been adequately aired or addressed in the agreement".

Sinn Féin's spokesman, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, said that EU member states should not not allow themselves to be bullied into applying an agreement which failed to guarantee the data protection rights of its citizens.

The Green Party's spokesman, Eamon Ryan, commented: "In yielding data which may be passed on to other governments or third parties, we will step too far."