Shorthall questions US right to fingerprint passengers in Ireland

The Labour Party has queried the legality of the US demand for fingerprints to be taken from airline passengers at Irish airports.

According to the party’s spokesperson on transport, Rosín Shorthall, US officials do not legally have the right to fingerprint and photograph passengers travelling to America.

She says that this is normally done at a port of entry to the United States, and thus governed by US law. However now it is being done on Irish territory, by persons immune to the jurisdiction of the Irish courts, she said.