Ireland is to join a Europe-wide computer database containing information on criminals, stolen goods and illegal immigrants. Known as the Schengen Information System, it was set up as part of Europe's common travel area.
The Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, said that it would cost many millions of pounds to upgrade Ireland's police and customs computer service to Schengen standards.
The Schengen agreement abolished passport controls between countries inside the European Union. But to make up for the lack of internal controls on movements, the governments set up the Schengen Information System, a vast computer system linking police stations and customs posts in the member states to a central server in Strasbourg.
The system makes it easier for law enforcement agencies to track criminals throughout the EU and for judges to order their arrest and extradition. If people are picked up by the police in any part of Europe they can be checked against the Schengen system to see if they are wanted elsewhere.
Britain and Ireland stayed out of Schengen but have now decided to go into part of it - the area dealing with police and judicial co-operation. At the justice ministers meeting in Spain, John O'Donoghue told his colleagues Ireland will join the Schengen system later this month, subject to Oireachtas approval.
Ireland and the UK are continuing to stay outside other aspects of Schengen so there will be no pursuit or surveillance across the border with Northern Ireland, as there is in other states. And Irish people will still need a passport to travel to mainland Europe.
