Mr. Ronan Lupton:

We are playing catch-up here. The Digital Rights Ireland, DRI, case was eight years ago. The Tele2 case was five years ago. We are, therefore, only bringing ourselves into the modern day, effectively, with regard to what way the legislation should work. There has been an impediment, unfortunately, and I am not pointing the finger at the Department of Justice because a Bill was generated in 2017 that was not reached during the lifespan of that Government.

In fact, it went to pre-legislative scrutiny and there were issues with it at that stage. It was taken back from the first set of review. It is difficult not to point the finger at the State for not having done this sooner.

As to whether the Bill is future-proofed, it brings us to where we need to be today. The technologies in this area change all the time. State security measures need to keep up with criminal activity. That is a significant challenge. The question is whether we are bringing it up to date in terms of law. I think we are faithfully trying to do that but it is only being brought up to date, as opposed to future-proofing. It is very difficult to future-proof in the manner suggested in the question.