Seanad debates
Thursday, 3 April 2003
Data Protection (Amendment) Bill 2002 [ Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil ] : Report and Final Stages.
Senator Tuffy asked me about the reason for the deletion of the words "and lawfully", dealt with in amendment No. 4. We have had extensive consultation with the Attorney General's office about this matter. The advice we received was that the phrase is tautologous. In other words, there is no need for the words to be included and it does no violence to the legislation to remove them. There was, as far as I am aware, a supplementary reason for that as well. There are exemptions for certain materials relating to the investigation of offences, etc., and if we had retained the words "and lawfully", it would give the impression that the police were acting unlawfully or that people disclosing information to the police were doing so.
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