Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It will. I stress that what we have proposed here in terms of this emergency legislation reduces the amount of data that can be retained and puts additional safeguards in place that do not exist in the principal Act. There are more safeguards here. Specifically, when it comes to a threat or security, the type of data that now we are able to retain is still on a very restricted basis with that oversight. There is an extra layer that does not exist now.

Of course, my preference is that this would be the base that we work off and that we would be able to ensure An Garda Síochána is able to access the information that it needs, be it for security purposes or in fighting criminal offences, but the purpose of today is to respond to the ruling and to make sure that we are compliant. In anything after that, be it in terms or work at a European level or in terms of a more general wider Bill, which I hope to bring, as I said, by the end of the year where I will engage fully with all colleagues here, we will work on this and see where we can go from here.