Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It is a matter of degree. Perhaps I should inform the House that on one occasion I received a visitor in my Department when my office was in the other building on St. Stephen's Green. He was a Canadian data protection commissioner. He told me it was his strong view that there should be no retention of any kind. I asked him if he did not regard that as a very strong position to take and he said, "No". He was adamant that this was an unwarranted infringement on everybody's privacy and that the State did not need to have this kind of information. It could use wire tapping of the classic kind but retention was an infringement of everybody's liberty. I noted that shortly after his conversation with me he lost office in circumstances where his expenses figured.