Enforcement of immigrant bill an issue, warns group

THE Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) has cautiously welcomed the publication of a Government bill streamlining the asylum seeking process, but warned more consideration is needed of how the legislation will be enforced.

The new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, published this week, will see all non-EU nationals who live and work in Ireland having to carry residence permits containing biometric data at all times.

These will include personal data, such as a finger print or iris scan, contained in a computer chip on the card.