Ireland given three years to introduce fingerprints on passports

All Irish passports will have to include fingerprints from June 2009 under new measures agreed by the European Commission this week.

The measures will also require all newly-issued passports across the EU to feature an electronic chip containing digital pictures, names and dates of birth from August of this year.

The Irish Government has already announced plans to introduce such passports in October.

The EU measures form part of efforts to tackle international terrorism, but are also designed to meet US demands that all countries involved in the visa-waiver scheme begin producing biometric passports from this October.