Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for attending this morning. It is important, in the first instance, to remember the background and context for this, and having read the Murray report, I am not certain that the Bill as currently proposed would meet the threshold that is laid out in that report. One of the recommendations of the Murray report was that consideration should be given to the inclusion in any amending legislation governing access to retained communications data of a provision expressly prohibiting access for the purpose of identifying a journalist's sources, except in accordance with the circumstance and conditions laid down in that legislation. Those conditions should be the suspected commission of a serious criminal offence or unlawful activity. It appears that the threshold as outlined here is lower because the Minister can, for example, intervene in circumstances where there is only a suspicion of such activity. There is a mismatch between the recommendations of the Murray report and the heads of this Bill. I know that the National Union of Journalists, NUJ, and others have expressed concern that this does not meet the threshold and does not implement the recommendations of the Murray report. I invite Ms Moore to comment on that.