Lazy civil servants won't use modern technology in Immigration Bureau

[Eric Cartman]

Use fingerprint machine or lose wages, staff told - National News - Independent.ie

CIVIL servants who have been refusing to use fingerprinting machines for the past three years have been threatened with having their wages cut off.

Around 50 clerical officers based in the Garda National Immigration Bureau in Burgh Quay in Dublin maintain that it is the job of gardai to use the five fingerprinting machines installed there.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan confirmed that the staff had now received a letter telling them they would be subjected to disciplinary action if they did not agree to use the machines before the end of the month.

The Garda Press Office confirmed that the staff had been told they would face disciplinary action including "immediate removal from the payroll" if they didn't comply.

This is a challenge to the odious Croke Park Agreement. Interesting to see what develops.

There are 43 other AFIS machines in locations such as Dublin Airport and the Refugee Applications Tribunal.

They allow fingerprints to be scanned instantly instead of being taken using the traditional 'wet ink' method. The fingerprints can be then checked against a computer database to help detect people using multiple identities, welfare fraudsters and terrorism suspects.

The Dail's Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday that just 35pc of people from non-European countries applying for residency permits have been fingerprinted for their GNIB cards. That means that the remaining 65pc who attended GNIB headquarters in Burgh Quay were given GNIB cards containing no fingerprints as a result of the dispute.

This is disgraceful. Why weren't these people disciplined before this? Why are these people molly coddled?

[Aindriu]

Good for Callinan I say! If they aren't prepared to do the job there are plenty out there signing on who will be.

[Sync]

Good for Callinan I say! If they aren't prepared to do the job there are plenty out there signing on who will be.

Damn right. It's ridiculous. Could you imagine someone in McDonalds saying they wouldn't use a new burger machine, or an MS employee saying they wouldn't use a new computer system? Idiots. Anyone who persists should indeed be fired.

[antiestablishmentarian]

The people involved in this are clerical officers, not Guards. In a criminal case, such as deportation, it is the Gardaís' duty to collect evidence and process it, not someone who's paid to file paperwork.

[gazdub]

The people involved in this are clerical officers, not Guards. In a criminal case, such as deportation, it is the Gardaís' duty to collect evidence and process it, not someone who's paid to file paperwork.

I would have thought that it would be illegal for non garda personnel to take fingerprints??

[kieranfromclon]

What's really disgraceful is that this has been allowed to go on for so long. In a private company you'd already have been fired!

[Aindriu]

They aren't 'collecting evidence' they are taking fingerprints by placing someone's hands on a scanner plate!! FFS!!

[antiestablishmentarian]

They aren't 'collecting evidence' they are taking fingerprints by placing someone's hands on a scanner plate!! FFS!!

Why do you think fingerprints are collected? In a criminal trial, prints are considered evidence, the only other occasion when they are collected is when someone has been convicted of a crime and is being processed for entry to a prison or other holding facility. There's no good reason for clerical officers to do work like this, it's far more suited to the skills and training of a guard.

[damus]

Think its a matter of €€€€€€€

[damus]

Why do you think fingerprints are collected? In a criminal trial, prints are considered evidence, the only other occasion when they are collected is when someone has been convicted of a crime and is being processed for entry to a prison or other holding facility. There's no good reason for clerical officers to do work like this, it's far more suited to the skills and training of a guard.

Its the immigration bureau....