Civilian staff are to replace gardaí at border control checkpoints around the country. 80 staff are to man the immigration control booths at Dublin Airport - replacing 125 gardaí, who will be able to return to frontline duties.
The Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said "As part of my focus on reforming policing in Ireland, I am committed to examining and pursuing all opportunities to civilianise non-frontline garda tasks, to get gardaí out from behind desks and provide a visible policing service on the ground."
"The civilianisation of immigration functions represents an important step forward in this effort as it will release some 125 gardaí for other core policing duties."
"This initiative makes sense both from an efficiency and economic perspective. The programme, starting with Dublin Airport, will free up Garda members for other core policing duties while also allowing the immigration service of my Department to both reduce costs and continue to discharge the effective management of our border and immigration system," she added.
Border checks, undertaken at immigration booths on arrival at Dublin Airport, are at present largely carried out by garda members. The initiative being announced today involved the deployment of an additional 80 civilian staff at border control booths there on a 24/7 basis.
Work to implement the first phase of this programme will commence immediately.
The Department of Justice says further phases commencing next year will focus on deploying civilian officers to other major ports of entry, and the transfer of the immigration permission registration function from the gardaí to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS).
The move to a full civilian operation in Dublin Airport Terminal 1 is expected to be completed next summer, with Terminal 2 completed by December 2015.
Ms Fitzgerald also held discussions with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) on plans for greater use of border technologies - such as automatic border controls and advance passenger information systems - to make entry at Dublin Airport as smooth as possible.
Commenting on the role of technology, Ms Fitzgerald said that, "Modern technology such as e-gates facilitates smarter, secure and more cost effective management of our borders".
"While we must remain vigilant in preventing individuals entering our country who have no right to be here, we must also make every effort to the make the entry experience as smooth as possible for genuine travellers who constitute the vast majority of people travelling through our air and sea ports."
"Border technology is one of the key ways to achieve that objective," she added.
Since May 2013, four e-Gates have been operational in Terminal 1 on a pilot basis. Ms Fitzgerald confirmed that the INIS were currently preparing a business case for an expansion of the scheme.
