Madam, - John R Bailey, (July 14th) bemoans the lack of debate about the proposal to introduce ID cards for all Irish citizens. I agree, but am scarcely surprised.
He is correct that the card would be largely useless in the so-called "War on Terror" and I have yet to hear any rational argument to counter this assertion. Since the 9/11 atrocity the world has become a more uncertain and panicky place. This new, fearful climate has given governments worldwide, especially the American administration, carte blanche to introduce measures that simply wouldn't have been easily tolerated previously.
We are consistently told we must be prepared to forfeit invasions into our privacy for the common good without any explanation of the rationale underpinning these decisions. The ID card scheme proposes a further erosion of the public's right to privacy, while singularly failing to convince as a credible prevention of terrorist atrocities. A particularly insidious aspect is that the price of producing these cards would be borne by the applicant (£300 sterling was mooted in Britain). A card with the constituents of a person's fingerprints and iris has been proposed.
There is nothing in this idea that would be superior to the introduction of a passport with these enhanced features ie, a biometric passport, already in existence in the United States, coupled with a cessation of the long standing common travel scheme between Ireland and Britain. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6W.