Ireland to benefit from biometrics - Minister

Irish companies are set to benefit from the increased security technology measures against global terrorism, according to Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern.

Speaking in The Hague in Holland, Minister Ahern said over €170m will be spent on developing appropriate visa, passport and immigration systems for the European Union.

The deployment of biometrics as a security tool will provide cutting edge Irish companies with great opportunities.

Addressing the Hague meeting on the future use of biometrics, at the beginning of the new Dutch EU Presidency, Minister Ahern said: “The Irish Government has provided €250,000 funding for the European Biometric Forum - supporting a secretariat, research groups and the development in Dublin of the biometric demonstration centre.“

Biometrics is an electronic system which can for instance apply fingerprint, face recognition or iris recognition as part of a new "passport" verification.

The Minister warned that the public need to be educated and informed about the value of biometrics.

“Education as to how the technology works,” said Minister Ahern.