THOSE WHO are shocked by the stringent terms and conditions sought by the United States for continuation of its visa waiver programme with Ireland next year should be aware that this issue has been under prolonged negotiations between the US and other states, as well as with the European Union.
According to US homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff the deal would mean exchanging data, including DNA and fingerprint records and possibly details of individuals' political and religious beliefs and sexual orientations, even if they are not planning to travel to the US. A US-German agreement last March laid down such conditions. Realistically they can best be modified to protect individual rights at EU level.
Some 550,000 Irish people travel to the US every year, using the inflight visa waiver scheme which gives them relatively easy access compared to those who have to go through the full visa regime on landing. Irish people will now have even less troublesome access under the agreement on full pre-clearance facilities for flights from Dublin and Shannon signed this week in Washington by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and Mr Chertoff. After signing it Mr Chertoff told this newspaper about the new terms and conditions to be imposed. The existing visa waiver programme is due to be renewed next year, although there have been no talks as yet. And from January 12th air travellers will have to register online 72 hours before travelling to the US.
Two factors have driven the more comprehensive and intrusive US policy on such personal data over the last seven years. The 9/11 atrocities in 2001 hugely changed American political and popular attitudes towards terrorist threats under the two Bush administrations. Mr Chertoff's homeland security department arose from that trauma, as did his mandate to tighten travellers' access. He has pursued this relentlessly in negotiations with the new EU member states which joined in 2004 and did not have visa waiver programmes. To the dismay of the European Commission the Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian and Lithuanian governments signed up to much tighter US conditions without reference to Brussels. This set precedents for older EU members like Germany. The commission belatedly reached an agreement last March to conduct negotiations in parallel, but by then the framework had been laid down.
Mr Dempsey's announcement of the new pre-clearance arrangements last Friday conveniently overlooked these facts. In Washington he admitted they may well apply, saying "I don't think we'd be thanked for saying you can't travel to the US". The US-German template agreement provides that each side will have access to the other's fingerprint databases and DNA profiles and that this can extend in certain circumstances to people who are not travelling. Personal data on origins and opinions may also be exchanged. Safeguards to protect such information are mentioned but not properly specified.
These alarming conditions will be difficult to modify in bilateral talks. More leverage should be pursued by seeking changes in alliance with other EU states.