Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I take issue with one phrase used by the Minister when she replied to the amendment. It was that this is a pared-back piece of legislation. I do not agree with her that it is pared back. I mentioned proportionality earlier on. Under the 2011 Act, a request could be made in the case of a serious offence. This has not been pared back. Rather it has been expanded to "an offence". I am worried whether under the requirement in this legislation where a superintendent believes that data related to a person whom the member of An Garda Síochána suspects on reasonable grounds of having committed an offence relates to the protesters we see outside here every week, some of whom are campaigning for disability rights. Would that be a public order offence if a superintendent believes they were breaching the Public Order Act? What about someone campaigning for housing or about mica or pyrite? If a superintendent believes he or she was committing an offence, could the superintendent then make the application? It seems to me that under this legislation, the superintendent would be able to go to a service provider and ask it to disclose user data in respect of people committing those type of offences, possibly even a parking ticket because that is an offence. This is where I disagree with the Minister about the pared-back nature of it. The current system refers to a serious offence. Breaking a window is a serious offence because you will get five years for it in the Circuit Court. Stealing a Mars bar from a shop qualifies as a serious offence if it goes to the Circuit Court, which it can. This has been changed to "an offence", which is so wide-ranging that I would have to disagree with the Minister. This is not a pared-back piece of legislation.

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