Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This proposal is worthy and worthwhile. It will move us in the right direction. Joint investigation teams have been working for many years on a multinational format to tackle organised crime, particularly the drug gangs, etc., that plague our communities. Every community in every part of Ireland can recognise the impact that they have on young people, who become addicted to drugs and who then fall into criminality and all that goes with it. All of this begins with these international tycoons of criminality who cross borders, not just across the EU but also in jurisdictions elsewhere. The Minister of State’s point in regard to the investigation into the tragic incident in Essex is well worth remembering. That happened when Britain was to some extent tied to the European Union. That is no longer the case following Brexit. Will the Minister of State elaborate on what impact that will have on this proposal? Will Britain still be involved in the joint investigation teams?

They have been very successful cross-border tools, as the Minister of State mentioned. It seems that we have had issues in the past with technical difficulties. This proposed measure is designed to deal with that and to try and resolve matters. The main objective, as has been stated, is to establish a collaboration platform under the regulation and to solve the problems so that they can deliver the technical support that has been missing thus far. That is necessary. We recognise that unless these things are done centrally, there is an issue. I was glad to hear the Minister of State indicate that it will be done centrally from within the European Union. Which member state will be the source of that? Will it be coming from Brussels? Will it be France or Germany? In what member state will that happen? It would be good to know that information.

This is a collaboration on a digital platform. We heard this morning from the European Court of Justice, which has made it clear that there is an issue regarding how data has been collected from mobile phones in Ireland. This will have an impact. That is also a transnational issue. Every country in Europe will be looking at that. While all that is happening, we must also recognise that there has been a victim of a crime here in Ireland. I refer to Elaine O’Hara. There is also the family of the victim. The family will possibly have to cope with going back to court, sitting through another appeal and so on. We have to recognise the tragedy of all of that.

Since 2014, we have had an issue here in respect of this matter. I hope that the Government will be in a position to do something about it. In that context, it is crucial that the Government takes a lead on this. This particular case has been taken from the Irish jurisdiction to the European Court of Justice. It has exposed this issue, which will impact on law enforcement agencies across Europe. It is important that we lead in trying to correct the huge mess that will be created. It is important that we recognise people's privacy rights. We all recognise those rights, but they have to be balanced with the rights of people to be safe and with their rights to not be the victims of serious crime. This case was brought to the highest court in Europe. Certainly, it is the view of most rational people that the offender has been protected more than the people who are the victims. That needs to be acknowledged.

There is an issue with the indiscriminate long-term storage of data. That is the problem. We need to deal with it. In particular, the traffic that goes to mobile phones and the location data of the mobile phones has been collected indiscriminately. We may have a role to play here in Ireland in amending the Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services and Electronic Communications Infrastructure) Act 2010 around that. However, I come back to the fact that the European Union has erred on the side of privacy, in this case, to the detriment of the victims of crime and of the common good. That needs to be acknowledged and recognised. There is much work to be done on that. It ties in, as it happens, with the regulation with which we are dealing today.

Joint investigation teams will require access to data, to information on people’s movements and to data about who is in communication with whom in various jurisdictions across Europe and wider the world. It is necessary that these issues are resolved and that the case in respect of which this revelation emerged this morning is dealt with in an appropriate manner.

To go back to the joint investigation teams, this move was first supposed to be put in place in, I think, 2004. The Minister of State mentioned that Ireland will not be the first country to take these issues on and to move forward in respect of them. Unfortunately, in history, Ireland is usually last. That is another issue we need to deal with. Nearly every time we come in here to discuss the transposing of EU directives, we find that a deadline or issue is looming. That is bad policy, and it needs to be reviewed. In fairness, I think the Minister of State would acknowledge that. We have had a history of dealing with this in an inappropriate way up to now. We need to be much more effective and efficient around that.

The work we are doing here today is worthy and worthwhile. We must do anything that will get law enforcement agencies to work closer together to ensure that we can get prosecutions, convictions and deliver for the ordinary public and for the common good. In that context, I recognise that we need to make sure that the regulation to which the motion relates moves forward as quickly as possible. I hope that when the relevant legislation emerges, it will move speedily through the Houses and will be dealt with in the near term.

The reality is that many people look at this and they do not understand how it will make any difference. However, the case the Minister of State mentioned - the Essex case - is one example of where it would. There are many other examples of excellent work done in co-operation across Europe and the world by various law enforcement agencies. These have delivered arrests, as well as the seizures of large quantities of drugs and of arms of various kinds. These have been for the protection of people and of commerce. They have helped to ensure that we have a firm rule of law, which we need to have, across the entire European Union.

While this regulation, like many of them, is coming a little late to the House, it is welcome. Certainly, we will be supporting it and we will be moving the debate on it forward. However, we need to get answers in respect of the particular case which the European Court of Justice ruled on earlier today. It is necessary that the Minister of State and the Government step up to the mark and ensure that we take the actions that are required to correct that situation. It is inappropriate and wrong when offenders find that they have a loophole they can use to get out of things or to escape detection. That needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

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