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Home Office has details of 35,000 Ulster people's DNA Michael McHugh / Belfast Telegraph | March 23 2006 Fears over Big Brother-style government resurfaced today after it emerged that DNA samples from thousands of people in Northern Ireland are held on a central database. Concerns were expressed by political representatives and civil liberties groups following revelations that details of approximately 35,500 people in Northern Ireland are held on a UK-wide DNA database. The figure was disclosed following a Freedom of Information request by the Belfast Telegraph but officials from the Home Office, who administer the database, said they could not provide any breakdown of how many of those people had been convicted of an offence. The news that one in every 50 people in Northern Ireland have entries on the system has split those concerned about use of the information from those who focus on the crime-solving benefits of DNA. Sinn Fein Newry and Armagh Assemblyman Davy Hyland said questions had to be asked about which official agencies had access to the data. "This seems to be a very large number of people to be on the files and I would have concerns from a civil liberties point of view that people who have not been convicted of anything are on this database," he said. "People will say that if they have nothing to hide then why be worried about it but it is a different matter when people who have not been convicted of anything have their DNA recorded. "It smacks a bit of Big Brother and if it could be utilised in some way in the future for a political reason then I would be concerned." Mr Hyland's warning follow an early day motion in Westminster which noted with concern that 40% of the black population had details entered on the database as opposed to 9% of white people. DUP Policing Board representative Sammy Wilson said: "I have some sympathy with the police having an extensive database to work from. I just think that as criminals become more sophisticated then the police need to have the means to combat them," he said. "I can understand why identity cards would be a bit sensitive because of the amount of personal information which they hold but DNA is unique to yourself and I would not be as worried about the abuse of it." Maggie Beirne, director of the Committee for the Administration of Justice, said she wanted to know who had access to the database and whose details were kept on the file. "I think that if some of these people have never been arrested for anything, then their details should not be held," she said. --------------------------------------------------- Please help our fight against the New World Order by giving a donation. As bandwidth costs increase, the only way we can stay online and expand is with your support. Please consider giving a monthly or one-off donation for whatever you can afford. You can pay securely by either credit card or Paypal. Click here to donate. |
