Mr. David Murphy:

I will address the matter of the legislation passing without reference to us. I should state that there is statutory consultation under section 84 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The Department is obliged to consult us on the legislation and I can confirm that this has commenced. We are in dialogue with the Department. Following this process, we will continue to engage with the Department on the progress of the legislation.

Regarding concerns about the lawfulness of the measure and its compatibility with EU law, recital 33 of the law enforcement directive does not necessarily require that the clarity, precision and foreseeability are provided for in a printable Act passed by the parliament. This is where we see the code of practice as a statutory, mandated code stepping in to provide - if that is the way the legislation progresses - substantial detail on how this is implemented in practice. This will cover those assessments of necessity and proportionality, on a case-by-case basis, on each deployment of the technology being made by An Garda Síochána. It will also cover the oversight mechanism and the expertise of Garda personnel to effectively challenge through the verification process.

As a suite of measures, the Bill and the code of practice will need to meet those thresholds of clarity, precision and foreseeability for persons affected. That is why we see the code of practice, in essence, doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that regard.