Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A report carried out last year by the International Network of Civil Liberties Organisations, INCLO, called Surveillance and Democracy: Chilling tales from around the World, highlights the dangers of secretive international information-sharing agreements between intelligence agencies along with the problem of domestic surveillance. There are reports of people being put on secret fly lists, based on harmless email exchanges, state security agencies using intimidation tactics against peaceful protesters and national surveillance databases containing sections dedicated specifically to human rights activists. There are concrete cases of where individuals' human rights have been violated by the state. In light of the recent moves to introduce a national identity card and the potential to put so much information on this card, obviously we are aware of the fact that a lot of information can also be put on our passports. The Data Protection Commissioner is on record as saying that with regard to identity cards, the individual concerned has a right to know exactly what data are recorded on the card. Would Mr. McGarr accept what I have said as valid?