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

For general data, it can be just a criminal offence. It does not have to be a serious offence. That is on the basis that the court has ruled that, for the purposes of the detection, prevention or prosecution of crime, general data is not seen in the same way as Schedule 2 data, which is a person's location information. The latter is seen as impinging much more on a person's right to privacy. It is only for security issues that a person can retain or seek access to Schedule 2 data, whereas for a criminal offence or serious criminal offence access to the general data can be sought. In the case of a criminal offence, that is because the court has deemed it does not impinge on a person's privacy as much. Again, the safeguards are that it must be a superintendent who seeks access and it must be specific to what is being investigated; it cannot go beyond that.