Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I have to say the Minister's response is completely inadequate and off the mark. The review of the 2011 Act in regard to journalists is not enough. All citizens deserve to have their privacy and human rights protected, and the rightful outcry in regard to journalists' phones being intercepted should be shared in regard to other citizens' rights. The Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 allows the Garda to break into somebody's house, to plant devices, to carry out secret recordings and to put a tracking device on a person's car. Some of these activities can be done on the say-so of a superior officer without any oversight or scrutiny, or any definitive figures being produced afterwards. This is not good enough. Privacy and human rights are deserved by all. I appeal to the Minister to look at the situation regarding all of the surveillance legislation which is on our books, the use of that and the powers that rest with the Garda, the Revenue Commissioners, the Defence Forces and other State bodies which are not open to proper scrutiny or freedom of information requests. It is not just a matter for GSOC. If the Minister was serious about freedom of the press and citizens' humans rights, those aspects would be examined as well.

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