Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

That was then and I am not sure whether the late Jim Mitchell or Deputy Noonan introduced the current regime relating to the interception of telecommunications. However, it works well and there is no possibility of a Minister doing this off his or her own bat. A triple lock is in place because a security agency is required to make an independent request, which must then be considered by a designated official in the Department and a decision made to bring it to the Minister. There is no way the Minister can initiate the interception and get people to come to him with the paperwork ready for ministerial enterprises in interception.

I would like to consider this further between now and Report Stage, on the basis of the line of attack taken by the Senators' amendments, whether something can be done to make sure somebody in Ireland can ask if domestic interceptions will be circumvented by getting somebody outside the country to do something that would not happen in the country. If one could get around the legislation by asking a foreign person to make an application for which there was no oversight at the time or in retrospect, there could be a danger. I will examine what can be done having regard to our obligations under the convention and I do not wish to sound negative or positive on this. I recognise there are issues and the amendments have been tabled for good reason. However, I do not want to be in breach of our obligation and I do not wish to do something worthless because asking an Irish judge to work out whether an Austrian prosecutor was justified could be a wholly fruitless activity.