Mr. Dale Sunderland:

I agree with the synopsis of the Department. The statutory requirement for the code of practice - it will be a statutory code of practice - must set out the provision, under head 7, for "the confidentiality, security, storage, access and retention of data gathered in accordance with Part 2" of the Act. This is an essential and important question, and the Senator is correct in raising it: how long will data be retained for? That will have to worked out. The Bill in its current form provides a statutory obligation, which exists under data protection law anyway regardless of the Act. However, it is further emphasised and provided for in the Bill in that those issues must be assessed thoroughly. In meeting the requirements under data protection law - as I highlighted in my opening comments and submission - this Bill together with the codes of conduct go toward satisfying the requirements of the law enforcement directive and requirements under EU law. The Bill in itself does not do that. It will require the development of those codes and the layout of those codes, in a statutory sense, before the Oireachtas to satisfy the requirements of data protection law. They very much go hand in glove. The issues raised by the Senator will have to be addressed. The retention periods will have to be established for each element of the data captured and there will need to be a justification for that.