Automated border control could make immigration services faster and more secure, writes EMMET RYAN

I RELAND COULD make immigration services faster and more secure if it pioneers new border security technology, according to consulting firm Accenture, which demonstrated its capabilities in this area at a showcase in Brussels recently.

“The building of Terminal 2 in Dublin airport could see the implementation of automated border control,” says Ger Daly, global managing director of Accenture’s border management and public safety practice.

Automated border control is immigration technology’s equivalent to an ATM. Entrants to a country have their passport or visa scanned electronically when they arrive. This information is then matched with fingerprint and facial recognition data captured at the secure point of entry to ensure no fraud is taking place.

“It helps in getting people through more quickly but it still is monitored. You have a border guard who is monitoring several stations,” says Daly.

“A lot of the checks carried out by the machines are ones which the border guard would do themselves.”

Daly says security bodies and the Government would need to row in behind the technology for it to be implemented.

“It’s a bit like self-service. We’re trying to use technology to make the experience faster and easier,” he says. “For it to happen, the Dublin Airport Authority, the immigration service and the Department of Justice would all have to get on board.”

Daly says the move would continue the evolution in border security which started with the use of biometrics. This technology was introduced last year and involved the Department of Justice working with the Garda and the immigration service.

“At its basic level, it [biometrics] involved updating the criminal fingerprinting system the Garda has to include details like palm-printing, which is quite important in a criminal context. It gives faster matches and will improve the detection rate,” says Daly.

“On top of that, it was linked into the immigration service. They were able to put in place a service that would effectively take biometrics, which is both fingerprints and a facial picture, from anybody looking for immigration status during the registration process.

“It puts the information on a smart card, which they use to register every year to validate this is the same person that applied for the visa in the first place.”

The project links information in the databases of Irish organisations with data gathered by Europol and other agencies to give access to a wider network of data. The electronic system also enables a more accurate process and as such enhances border security.

“This is a business where there are all sorts of sub-industries internationally trying to subvert the immigration laws,” says Daly. “Ireland was a very attractive place to be over the last 10 years so it was a very important project.”

The cost of dealing with fraudulent applications has limited the ability of the immigration service to speed up entry for those legitimately entering Ireland.

However, new border security technology has helped to overcome these obstacles. The European system Eurodac, for example, is used to ensure people are not “asylum shopping”.

“People might have tried to apply for asylum status in Europe through multiple countries,” says Daly. “Eurodac examines each application to make sure they haven’t applied elsewhere in the EU and been rejected.”

This Europe-wide measure, coupled with Ireland’s use of biometrics, has reduced the number of fraudulent cases coming through Irish airports.

“Biometrics makes a real difference in identifying people in terms of fraudulent applications,” says Daly. “The second effect [of biometrics] is word of mouth, which in the age of the internet is almost as powerful. The word gets out that these sorts of measures are in place on the Irish border and the level of [fraudulent] activity goes down. They will look for easier ways to get into Europe because Ireland is at the forefront with this technology.

“Even before the economy turned, there was a definite sense that the word was out and there was a fall-off in applications.”

Daly says Ireland’s efforts in this field could be mirrored across the Continent, in much the same way that European police services have adopted the Pulse system used by the Garda, which was developed by Accenture. This criminal information management system, which came in for some scrutiny in the early days, has been adopted by security forces in Portugal, Spain and Finland.

Daly says the potential to make better use of resources offered by border security technology could result in Ireland becoming a pioneer in this field as well.

“There’s a lot of money spent on services such as asylum,” he says. “Fraud pushes a huge amount of money and resources into checking things that could be used for frontline provision of services.”