Ireland may be taken to Europe's highest court for failing to provide an adequate 999 emergency telephone service.
The European Commission will start legal action today against the Government for failing to introduce a system that provides location information for 999 calls made by mobile phone users.
This type of system, which enables telephone operators to relay the location of callers to the emergency services number, is recognised as a key factor in saving lives in many countries. But despite warnings from the commission the Government has still not implemented the system or, according to Irish mobile phone firms, asked them to introduce the life-saving technology.
EU information society commissioner Viviane Reding will announce the legal action today by warning Ireland and other states without the system that the ability to locate emergency callers can save people's lives.
Ten other EU states face legal action over the same issue, which relates to providing location data for each state's own emergency number - in Ireland 999 - and the common European emergency number 112.
An EU directive passed in 2002 mandates that caller location data should be provided for all emergency calls. Unless Ireland introduces the system it will face European Court of Justice trial.
The current 999 and 112 emergency service in Ireland operated by Eircom cannot provide a mobile caller's location. About 70 per cent of 999 calls are now made from mobile phones.
A Government spokeswoman said last night the service had not been introduced yet because the 999 emergency call answering service was under review.