Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Hawkes for his very informative presentation. I have a number of short questions. Does he foresee any data protection issue arising in the context of the use of biometric passports? How can data on European citizens be protected at a European level from digital fraud and theft?

Mr. Hawkes referred to the controversy over the level of surveillance of European citizens by intelligence services. I understand officials from the European Commission recently met US diplomats to discuss this issue. However, it is not solely a matter for the United States, as there are other countries involved, too. At the recent Dublin summit MEPs were almost unanimous in expressing their concern that data harvesting had been conducted on EU citizens who were not involved in any criminal activity. Does the Data Protection Commissioner have views or observations on these issues in the context of EU law?