The Data Protection Commissioner will investigate whether Garda authorities have "the proper security" in place to ensure data from proposed biometric identification cards for people from outside the EU is fully protected from being used improperly.
Among the areas it will examine are whether gardaí have sufficient resources to ensure the security of such data - including fingerprints - and whether the data can only be accessed by those who have reason to do so.
Amid revelations in the UK concerning several high-profile losses of data, the Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, said he was "fairly sure" that what happened in the UK could "easily happen here".
He noted that there had already been "clear evidence" of leakage of equivalent data by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, specifically to private investigators acting for insurance companies. This had led his office to carry out a detailed audit of data security in that department, which was ongoing.
" . . . Basically the intention of the audit is to work with the department to improve procedures so that in fact we can be confident going into the future that the data they hold on all of us will, in fact, be properly protected.
"The department itself accepts, I think, that there is scope for improvement both in terms of technical standards and also getting across to employees there the absolute need for them to treat the information of all of us in a confidential way."
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Hawkes confirmed that the audit in relation to the Government's plans for ID cards would take place this year.
Proposals for the cards are likely to be contained in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, due to be published by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan today.
Mr Hawkes could not say how long the audit would take, adding that it formed part of his office's programme of audits of major holders of State data.
He acknowledged that a "very fine and stringent" code of practice for data protection had been introduced by former Garda commissioner Noel Conroy last year.
However, he noted that the proposed new ID cards related not just to asylum seekers but also to individuals from countries such as the US and Canada.
"It would be very important that they can be given an assurance about exactly how their information is being stored, what security surrounds it, and who exactly and under what circumstances will have access to that.
"It's basically a precautionary audit; we do not have any evidence of improper access to that data at present . . . [ but] I think it's very important to ask questions about what exactly is being done here.
"I think the standards have been set down by the Garda themselves, and I think it's a question of have they the resources to put the proper security surrounding the data."