Mr. T. J. McIntyre:

Ireland has mutual legal assistance treaties with a number of jurisdictions, most importantly the US, because the vast majority of these services tend to be headquartered in the US. If something amounts to a criminal offence, it is already the case that the computer crime investigation unit could make use of that process to get information from, for example, Google in Mountain View, California. The mechanisms are already in place.

One problem is that Ireland has yet to ratify the convention on cybercrime. We entered into this convention and agreed to it in 2001. We intended to implement it and ratify it by 2003 and we are still waiting.

One of the advantages of doing that is that it would help provide for dedicated points of contact between national police forces.