Results 9,901-9,920 of 17,543 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Programmes (14 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: The Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) was introduced by Government Decision in April 2012, to encourage inward investment and to create business and employment opportunities in the State. The Programme was introduced at a time when Ireland was going through a very significant economic downturn and Departments were tasked with initiating innovative programmes to attract investment and create...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Status (14 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm that an application for renewal of permission to remain from the person referred to by the Deputy was approved by my Department on 13 July 2022. Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility at INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Status (14 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: The immigration case of the person referred to by the Deputy is impacted by the European Court of Justice judgment in the Chenchooliah case. My Department has, this week, issued the person concerned with a short-term permission on Stamp 1 conditions, which allows them to work without the need for an employment permit. Their longer-term position in the State is expected to be decided on...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Status (14 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: The person referred to by the Deputy was granted a renewal of their permission to remain in the State by letter dated 28 January 2019. I am advised that they can renew their permission at their local registration office and should seek to do so immediately. As it appears that the person concerned is resident in Dublin, they can apply to renew their permission on the online renewal system...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: I assure the Deputy that this is an issue we are prioritising. We had a budget of €2 billion for An Garda Síochána last year. A significant amount of that went to increase Garda numbers. Templemore college has reopened. We have had three attestations this year already and from September and October we will have 200 gardaí coming out of Templemore every 12 weeks....

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: I thank Senator Ward. The Senator made many of my responses and clarified them. From the outset, we have not defined either "security of the State" or "threat to the security of the State" anywhere. If one thinks of the most recent legislation, the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act, which we re-enacted only in the past few weeks, in that there is no clear definition of "security...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: It would have to be decided by a judge in order to be able to retain those particular data, namely, the Schedule 2 data. A judge would have to decide on that.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: It will. I stress that what we have proposed here in terms of this emergency legislation reduces the amount of data that can be retained and puts additional safeguards in place that do not exist in the principal Act. There are more safeguards here. Specifically, when it comes to a threat or security, the type of data that now we are able to retain is still on a very restricted basis with...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: Let me get into some of the detail. First, on amendment No. 4, the recent ruling and the 2020 ruling essentially state user data were not classified as serious in that they do not show the traffic or location details. Retention and access to these data can be justified by the objective of dealing with criminal offences in general. There is no requirement for a specific time-limited...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: Yes. It is in relation to time and not the actual data or case. It is the time itself overall for the data. The provision will apply to all general data irrespective of whether they are for a specific case or reason. It is the timeline we are referring to here.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: It depends on which the Senator is referring to. The general data are not viewed as impeding on somebody’s rights in the same way as Schedule 2 data. When talking about what is strictly necessary, we are referring to the time limit, not the potential crime or the reason for it.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: It does, but it does not give where a person is at a particular time or where he or she might have been. As with a given name and address, it does not necessarily tell anything more than one’s IP address. It is no different from having knowledge of a person’s name. In the case that brought a lot of this about, it was the location data that made the significant difference. We...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: One still has to set out the reason-----

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: -----one was looking for it. It is there, but one cannot just access it for no reason. The 12 months is because it is not seen as being as significant as accessing someone’s location.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: The court said that it does not feel this infringes in the same way so it included all user data, which includes what the Senator outlined, as not being as significant in terms of impeding. All of this is about whether retaining this type of data, Schedule 2 data or Internet data would create a greater impediment on someone’s privacy or right to privacy. However, the court ruled both...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: It is a similar argument to the previous one. It is a question of what the court has ruled and what categories it has deemed general data to fall under. Specifically, the court concluded that the interference entailed by the retention of user data cannot be classified as "serious". That is what it set out in the ruling. It went on to state that legislative measures concerning the...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: For general data, it can be just a criminal offence. It does not have to be a serious offence. That is on the basis that the court has ruled that, for the purposes of the detection, prevention or prosecution of crime, general data is not seen in the same way as Schedule 2 data, which is a person's location information. The latter is seen as impinging much more on a person's right to...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: At present, a member of the Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners or others can access this data without going through much of this process. We are reducing the amount of data that will be available in the longer term. It is about how it can be accessed. We have included an additional safeguard by inserting the words "reasonable grounds". It will be necessary to make a case....

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: There is no court hearing required in this instance. The court, in its ruling, did not ask for such a provision because it did not deem general data as being as serious as location data and the other information it specifically singled out. I should not get into it but, obviously, all present area aware that can have a greater impact in terms of cases. The court has deemed that more...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Helen McEntee: In response to one of the Senator's last comments, I wish to say that this is an emergency Bill and we are addressing the courts. That is specifically what we are doing in the provision. Everybody has expressed a view on the really short time that it has taken us to bring this legislation to the committee and bring it to Cabinet. Everything has been done at a much faster pace than I would...