Results 8,281-8,300 of 9,550 for speaker:Jack Chambers

Questions on Promised Legislation (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: In the programme for Government, it is outlined that there will be new investment in public services which will allow the Government to recruit additional front-line service professionals such as nurses and teachers. My comments relate to what Deputy Breathnach has said. Is the Lansdowne Road agreement and its replacement sufficient to deal with the haemorrhaging of front-line staff that we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: I thank the officials for attending this morning. It is important, in the first instance, to remember the background and context for this, and having read the Murray report, I am not certain that the Bill as currently proposed would meet the threshold that is laid out in that report. One of the recommendations of the Murray report was that consideration should be given to the inclusion in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: Would Ms Moore not accept that it is important in the interests of the media that we have protection for journalists, particularly in the context of what the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, was doing? Does she not think that there is a need to include that within the general scheme of the Bill?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: The Murray review recommended that amending legislation covering the access to retain communications data should expressly prohibit access for the purpose of identifying a journalist's sources except in accordance with the circumstances laid down in legislation and that they should require prior authorising to access a journalist's information from a judge of the High Court. The draft scheme...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: Therefore, Ms Moore disagrees with the Murray report in that there should not be an expressly specified mention of journalists' sources? Does she disagree with the report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: By generalising that element and lowering of the threshold with respect to the District Court, is the impact of the legislation not neutralised?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: In terms of the standard, it is not a strict necessity - this was mentioned in other submissions - that the standard in terms of accessing the data is again lower. Would Ms Moore accept that the standard in terms of accessing sources or data is lower than what the report has and other EU judgments have recommended?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: It is a proportionality test rather than a test of strict necessity. The level of intrusiveness is potentially increased by lowering the threshold. By generalising the scheme of the Bill and not specifically mentioning those who are threatened by the potential intrusiveness of data, does Ms Moore not consider there is a potential increased risk of data usage with the lowering the threshold?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: The Tele2 judgment requires that "the national legislation must be based on objective evidence which makes it possible to identify a public whose data is likely to reveal a link, a least an indirect one, with serious criminal offences, and to contribute in one way or another to fighting serious crime or preventing a serious risk to public security". It does not appear that this requirement...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: The Minister said previously that he was not in position to detail who or which journalists' data had been accessed by bodies since 2011. He said previously that the legislation will clearly define what the circumstances are in which sources could potentially be accessed. With the threshold that has been laid out and by failing to specifically define what the circumstances are, by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: Does Ms Moore believe the level of protection meets those set out under EU law?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: In a submission made by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Digital Rights Ireland, they have said that not only does the general scheme fail to comply with EU law, but the general scheme leaves a fragmented system of oversight in place that does not include key recommendations from the Murray review of data retention and does not adequately reflect the European Convention on Human...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: Why did Ms Moore pick a District Court judge in this instance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: Is Ms Moore certain that the expertise is there with every District Court judge?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: The Murray report dealt specifically with journalists and the complaints around the 2011 Act. Does Ms Moore accept that by not explicitly providing a defined threshold and by failing to create a higher standard of action for journalists' sources, the legislation, as outlined, is not being held to a high standard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: The Tele2 judgment states that "access can, as a general rule, be granted, in relation to the objective of fighting crime, only to the data of individuals suspected of planning, committing or having committed a serious crime or of being implicated in one way or another in such a crime". That direct nexus does not seem to be set out in heads 8 and 9.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: It says implicated in a crime.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: There is a contradiction of opinion in that there is significant criticism of those heads, that they do not meet the Tele2 judgment threshold. There is a general concern that, in the drafting of this provision, it has failed to reach the appropriate threshold of protection that underpins the Murray report. While people welcome the drafting and the changes to the legislation, there is still...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: There has been very little consultation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2017: Discussion (8 Nov 2017)

Jack Chambers: What has been said must be controversial.