Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a fine line. Obviously, we want to ensure we protect people's privacy, but also that An Garda Síochána has the powers to do its work. It is important that we provide the Garda with the technical expertise, the financial support and the legislative underpinning it needs to do its work. The Garda is continuing to do that work. I have some of the figures relating to that Act. The Garda made 13,545 data access requests to telecommunications companies in 2018 and 8,110 were made in 2019. While the Garda might not be able to do this in as easy a manner as, perhaps, previously it is continuing to do its work. The priority now is to ensure we have the best possible legislation to underpin the work of the Garda.

The biggest challenge has been that since the ruling in 2014 there have been a number of clarification requests not just from this country but also from other member states and the responses to those requests have created more questions. The initial ruling was quite wide-ranging so the requests and the responses have created more questions, which has made it difficult to draft this legislation. However, it is at an advanced stage and the ruling early next year will be important.

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