More than 120 arrests made in Ireland’s first six months of Schengen Information System

Up to 52 arrests were made on already endorsed European arrest warrants for offences such as drug trafficking, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, theft, assault causing harm, fraud and property offences.

Ireland's first six months of involvement in the Europe-wide Schengen Information sharing system (SIS II) has seen more than 120 arrests.

The figures for this year have doubled on the corresponding figures for the same time period last year. There have been 74 arrests on SIS Article 26 which posts alerts on people wanted for arrest, surrender, or extradition purposes.

A further 52 arrests were made on already endorsed European arrest warrants for offences such as drug trafficking, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, theft, assault causing harm, fraud and property offences.

Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys has said Ireland has made “good progress” since joining the centralised European database.

“These numbers demonstrate the positive impact SIS II has had on the investigation of trans-European crime to date, with a significant increase in the number of arrests for a large number of crime types,” she said.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the introduction of SIS II has “opened up a rapid information exchange gateway” for gardaí and police services across Europe.

“Since its introduction in this State six months ago, SIS II has enabled An Garda Síochána and its Gardaí on patrol to access and share real-time police data and intelligence in the live environment, resulting in approximately 126 arrests relating to incidents of serious criminality across the EU.

“The successes of SIS II have already been many and the benefits of the system to the State and policing in Ireland for the benefit of all citizens cannot be overstated,” he said.

What is SIS II?

SIS II is a centralised secure database used by European countries for maintaining information and alerts related to border security and law enforcement and is a critical component of the open border policy that has been operating in Europe.

The integration of SIS II into national systems means that automatic alerts are generated in real-time in instances where, for example, a Garda member encounters a person who is wanted or has been involved in a serious crime in another jurisdiction.

SIS II also generates alerts on missing persons (in particular children), as well as information on certain types of property, such as banknotes, cars, vans, firearms and identity documents that may have been stolen, misappropriated or lost.