Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week in the Dáil, Deputy Clare Daly and I addressed the absurdity of the Minister instigating a review into the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 regarding information on journalists without also conducting a review of the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009, the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 and the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011, all of which give draconian powers to State agencies to abuse the privacy of Irish citizens. The Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 allows gardaí, the Defence Forces and Revenue with the say of a superior officer, not a judge, to secretly record an individual with audio and video devices, break into their home, install video cameras and recording equipment, secretly put a tracking device on their vehicle and follow their movements. A report with no details or statistics is produced at the end of the year just to cover this area. We are led to believe there are almost 40 applications of this nature per day. It seems very strange that it is not tackled.

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