Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the decision of the European Court of Justice to strike down the data retention directive, the Minister will be aware that the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has welcomed the decision here in Ireland. There is concern over the need to find a balance between the requirement of a state to gather intelligence, monitor and identify threats to its security, which citizens accept, and the desire to protect the right to privacy and the civil rights of citizens who are not a threat to the state. This is an important balance to strike.

I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on the recent report from Vodafone. Ireland is the only one of 29 countries that did not give the company permission to publish the level of access of our intelligence and security services to its data. I refer in particular to the concerns of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties in this regard. It sought absolute clarity from the Government.

The Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 seems to provide the broad context in terms of surveillance. Can the Minister explain why Ireland was the only one of 29 countries not to give permission to Vodafone to publish the extent of the Irish State's surveillance requests? Can she assure us that governments are seeking to strike a balance, in line with the decision of European Court of Justice, between the right of the citizen to privacy and the need to pursue identified threats to the security of the state?