Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 6, to delete lines 43 and 44 and substitute the following:

7.—A provider shall comply with a disclosure request made to the service provider only where it is technically possible and reasonable in scope in that the request is not so wide as to place an undue cost on the service provider.".

There are suggestions that the telecommunications industry, through various submissions it has made, would request that this should be brought into the legislation. The amendment is self-explanatory. We are asking that a provider shall comply with a disclosure request made to the service provider only where it is technically possible and reasonable in scope - in that the request is not so wide as to place an undue cost on the service provider.

Again, with reference to the cost burden, if, for instance a designated officer should make a disclosure request, there has to be a reasonable approach to this. If, for instance, the request trawls so wide as to be entirely non-specific and take up a large amount of time, then this will obviously place a burden on the relevant ISP or telephone company. If a disclosure request is as wide-ranging as a chief superintendent determines it should be, then we must be mindful of the cost to the service provider in yielding up that information.

I know the Minister of State will argue to the effect that disclosure requests are needed and there has to be discretion on the part of the chief superintendent. Nonetheless, I believe the request has to be targeted and some degree of scope must be allowed for as regards the ISP or telephone company. That is fundamentally what I am addressing here.

See this speech in context