The European Parliament has voted to allow airlines to share passenger information with EU states in a bid to detect terrorists.
The move is the culmination of a five-year debate that intensified after the Paris and Brussels attacks.
The Passenger Name Record system, first proposed by the European Commisssion in 2011, was adopted by a large majority of 416 votes for, 179 votes against, and nine abstentions.
British MEP Timothy Kirkhope, who steered the legislation through parliament, said the choice was not between a European Union PNR system and no such system, but one between a bloc-wide approach and 28 national systems that would leave gaps.
A number of Irish MEPs voted against PNR including the GUE/NGL Sinn Féin MEPs and Independent MEP Nessa Childers, who is a member of the Socialist and Democrats Group.
Independent/ALDE MEP Marian Harkin voted in favour of the resolution, as did the Fine Gael/EPP MEPs.
Today’s plenary vote marks the final step in the legislative procedure.
The data protection regulation is expected to become applicable in all member states by 2018.
