Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I also thank the Minister for agreeing to examine the issues raised before Report Stage. He is protective of our legal system in other fora and my concern is that powers will be provided to other states that may apply a different set of standards than Ireland in dealing with legal issues. This legislation could give them scope to do that.

I am all in favour of co-operation with other countries, particularly member states of the EU but Ireland is one of the few countries with a constitution. We have a particular regime of rights and so on while other countries have acted wrongly in the past legally and otherwise. Perhaps, in addition to the Minister examining the issue in the context of the legislation, as a Parliament, we need to examine the way we are headed with such legislation and adopt a clear-cut position on issues such as data protection and collection and the use of such data. This would inform us when participating in future conventions, therefore, I urge the Minister to take this on board.