Mr. Ronan Lupton:

As the Deputy is aware, there has been a history of subversive and terrorist activity in this country which has required legislation from the 1980s and onwards to deal with the retention of data. The question is what is the correct procedure in that regard. Those kinds of actors have not gone away. I make the point in my written submission that there is a requirement to assist law enforcement. There is no question about the saving of human life, the investigation of offences and the security of the State trumping the right to privacy, for example. The reality, however, is that there are laws and provisions that need to be met. We are getting to that stage. The general scheme of the Bill brings us into that position but there are issues outstanding. Mr. Sunderland has identified particular issues in terms of the gaps relating to the area of data protection. I was quite enthused by his opening statement. I am sure the committee will hear more from him on that issue, so I will redirect that question towards the Data Protection Commission. His submissions comply with mine. I think Dr. McIntyre, too, has views that are similar to mine. There is a requirement but we need to get it right. The effort so far is good but it does not quite get us there. There are issues still for Mr. Kelleher and the Department, in conjunction with the Attorney General, to get 100% correct.