Carol Nolan: Ireland builds EU e-evidence fast, borders lag

Go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle. I want to speak today about the Criminal Justice International Cooperation on Electronic Evidence and Other Matters Bill 2026, a bill that gives the state and the European Union sweeping new powers to obtain, preserve and transfer electronic evidence at extraordinary speed. And what I want to raise is a very simple question. Why is the political will so strong in some areas and so weak in other areas? Because when it comes to digital surveillance and cross-border data demands, the state is prepared to move mountains. This bill creates a system where Ireland becomes the central enforcement hub for the entire EU's e-evidence regime. Matteson LLP, in a detailed legal analysis, warns that Ireland will face significant operational demands and potentially substantial volumes of foreign data production orders, all under extremely tight deadlines and sometimes as short as eight hours. So the machinery can move quickly when Europe needs it to. The political will is there when the European Parliament calls. The urgency is there and the resources are being found. But then we look at another area, the identification of individuals entering our state through the migration system, including those who may be wanted abroad for serious crimes and suddenly the urgency evaporates. We still do not have a fully effective identity verification system at our borders. We still have gaps in biometric checks. We still have delays in information sharing and we still have cases well documented in the public domain where individuals wanted abroad have entered Ireland undetected. So I ask again, why is the state prepared to build a high-speed, high-capacity surveillance compliance machine for the EU, but not an equally robust system to protect our own borders and our own people? That question needs to be answered. This bill will allow foreign authorities to obtain identifying data from Irish-based companies at speed. It will allow Ireland to process hundreds of thousands of requests every year. It will require Gardaí and our courts to prioritise these demands and bow down to these demands even though they are already stretched to the limits. But when it comes to identifying individuals entering our state here, individuals who may have no documentation, no verified identity and in some cases criminal histories abroad, we still rely on systems that are slow, inconsistent and in many cases simply not fit for purpose. That is the contrast that I want to highlight here this evening. Not to undermine any cooperation, not to undermine policing, but to ask why the political will is so uneven and unbalanced. We can build a rapid response digital evidence system for Europe, but we cannot build a rapid response identity verification system for Ireland, which is a small island. That is the question. Why is that? We cannot enforce foreign data production orders within hours, but we cannot reliably confirm who is entering the state. We can impose major compliance burdens on Irish companies, but we cannot impose equivalent standards on the systems that protect our borders. Count Corla, I support international cooperation, I support effective and efficient policing, but I also support consistency, balance and above all common sense. If we are prepared to grant sweeping new powers in the digital sphere, then surely we must show the same determination in the physical world, at our own borders, in our own migration system and in the basic task of knowing who exactly is entering this state. This is the contrast that I am raising here today, as it is a contrast that does deserve answers.