Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I have one of two questions, on the back of Deputy Daly's point and the protections that exist for data under EU law and under the judgment in Tele 2.

Mr. Dooley has given us a general sense of the principles and so on. I suppose I would broadly accept the fact that there is a specific role for journalists in terms of public debate, a democratic society and all the rest. The difficulty that we will face is that the heads of a Bill are in line with the proposal from the ICCL and from the NUJ that as it stand, the Bill is inadequate in terms of protecting journalistic sources and the right to protect sources. If that is to be changed we will need to find a precise wording, a precise formulation. I think we will need some guidance on this. There will have to be some kind of definition of who will benefit from that specific protection. I appreciate the point that Mr. Dooley made about not supporting a system of specific accreditation, as exists in France. I am not familiar with the system. How has EU juris prudence dealt with providing some kind of definition or clarity as to who is a journalist and the category of people who specifically benefit from that kind of enhanced protection? I am not taking away from the fact that it is required. How has the EU nailed down who journalists are and why they are entitled to this protection?