Digital fingerprint will come into play in the near future, as soon as a few months away. This will mainly concern people who are living in Ireland but are neither from EU nor an Irish citizen.
It will apply to all non-nationals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) -- the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway -- who are registering to live here. The fingerprints will be put on their registration cards. Tourists will continue to get a stamp on their passports.They are using this system called Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)
The AFIS captures and stores palm prints, as well as the traditional 10 fingerprints, making it easier for forensic experts to match smaller marks taken from crime scenes.
(From Indo online: Full article)