Passenger name record data regime enters into force under third commencement order

The passenger name record data regime is now in force. S.I. No. 564 of 2026 appoints 9 November 2026 as the day on which Part 19 of the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 (No. 34 of 2026), together with three related schedules, comes into operation. The instrument, formally the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 (Commencement) (No. 3) Order 2026, is published in Iris Oifigiúil No. 90 of 10 November 2026 at item [G-1].

A third order closes out the 2026 statute

The order was made by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan TD, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 1(4) of the Act. It is the third commencement order made under the 2026 statute and, unlike its predecessors, it is confined to the passenger data provisions: the rest of the Act had already been switched on in earlier phases.

The first order, S.I. No. 383 of 2026, brought sections 2 and 3, Part 6, sections 24, 25 and 26, Parts 10 and 12, and sections 113, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120 and 122 into operation on 10 August 2026; section 4(c), section 22, Parts 9, 13, 14, 15 and 18, section 121 and Schedule 1 on 1 September 2026; and Part 11 on 1 October 2026. A second order, S.I. No. 539 of 2026, published on 30 October 2026, commenced Part 7 and Part 16. Part 19 was left to this final step.

What the order switches on

The operative provision is short. The Minister appoints 9 November 2026 as the commencement day for Part 19 and three schedules of the Act:

• Part 19 — Passenger Name Record Data.
• Schedule 2 — Passenger Name Record (PNR) Data.
• Schedule 3 — Serious Crime.
• Schedule 4 — Competent Authorities.

Taken together, the four items commence not only the duties set out in Part 19 but the definition of the data concerned, the catalogue of serious crime for which that data may be used, and the list of bodies designated as competent authorities for the purposes of the Part.

In force a day before it was published

The order carries the date of publication, Tuesday 10 November 2026, but appoints the preceding day, Monday 9 November, as the commencement day, so the regime was already operating when the notice appeared in print. The text is a single notice in the statutory instruments block of the issue, carrying the standard distribution line: copies may be purchased from Government Publications, Mountshannon Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 08 XA06, at a price of €1.50.

No transitional period, deferred application or saving is mentioned in the notice itself. The commencement day and the three schedules are the whole of its operative content.

Why it matters

For air carriers handling passenger bookings, the effect is that the obligations attached to passenger name record data now rest on a commenced Part of an Act rather than on administrative arrangement, with the data fields, permitted uses and recipient authorities fixed in the Schedules that came into force with it. For travellers, it means booking records fall squarely within a statutory framework whose scope is set out in law.

The sequencing is also worth noting: the phased commencement of the 2026 Act was completed in four steps between August and November, and the passenger data chapter — the most sensitive of the provisions — was held back until the final stage, days before the order itself was published.

Source: Iris Oifigiúil, No. 90, 10 November 2026, section I, p. [G-1] (official reference: S.I. No. 564 of 2026).