Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I will not be supporting the motion. As others have said, this is Big Brother-like in how it intrudes upon the private information of our citizens and citizens across Europe. It is completely unjustified and unacceptable and it is not just me or those who have spoken tonight who have said that, the European Parliament has expressed deep concern about it, saying the proposal lacked legal certainty on its compatibility with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and that there was a failure to adequately demonstrate the use of PNR data for the purpose of law enforcement was necessary and proportionate.

Many other bodies such as the Data Protection Commissioner, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on EU Scrutiny have expressed concerns about the justification and proportionality of this measure in terms of the objectives it sets. I do not see this as justified but the key is that it is being pushed for by the United States as part of the so-called war on terrorism. That is the real agenda. If the Minister and Government wish to address the serious problem of terrorism in the world, instead of introducing Big Brother legislation that will pry into the movements of citizens and give the information to God knows who in the United States or other jurisdictions, they would be better dealing with the root causes that have driven people to misguided terrorist actions.

As the Minister knows but will probably not acknowledge, in so far as a terrorist problem has developed, much of it has to do with the foreign policy of the United States and the other major western powers in respect of regions such as the Middle East. Essentially, the powers to which I refer have set out to secure their interests at the expense of people within the Middle East. This has fuelled bitterness and anger and people have misguidedly engaged in terrorist actions as a result. We have no compunction in condemning such actions, the root cause of which is US and western foreign policy in the Middle East.

Would it not be better for the Government to begin to condemn, for example, the continued support on the part of the United States and certain European countries for brutal dictatorships such as the regime in Saudi Arabia which deny any rights, civil liberties or freedoms to their citizens. The Saudi regime is engaged in supporting the Government of Bahrain's attempts to suppress a pro-democracy movement. In the past, the regime to which I refer has armed, financed and done business with dictators such as Muammar Gadaffi. If we are serious about removing the root causes of terrorism, would we not be far better devoting our energy to breaking links with these dictatorial regimes? Would it not be better if we were to cease doing business with and arming and financing them? Would we not do more to undermine terrorism by allowing justice and real democracy to prevail in these regions rather than approving the big brother legislation that is the subject of the motion?

See this speech in context