Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 6, to delete lines 8 and 9.

This is an amendment I tabled on Committee Stage. The power referred to in this case is that the surveillance being sought to be authorised is necessary for the purpose of maintaining the security of the State. The amendment proposes the deletion of those words. This is vague and does not add to the Bill. Most of subsections (a) and (b) would cover all eventualities. The related amendments in this section, amendments Nos. 16, 46, 49 and 56, which are all in my name, concern the same issue, namely, that the proposals are vague. If we put forward such proposals, we need to be much more specific in what is proposed with regard to the security of the State so we do not duplicate what is in subsections (a) and (b). Anything that would undermine the security of the State would, I presume, be an arrestable offence which would be covered under subsection (a) or (b), which state that surveillance is authorised for the purpose of preventing the commission of arrestable offences. I believe most, if not all, of the issues which subsection (c) attempts to capture are captured under subsections (a) and (b).

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