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

The definition of "journalist" is something we will look at. It is a recommendation in the Murray report. The general scheme will be introduced by the end of this year. There will not be any time limits put on how we will debate it. I regret the timeline in which this Bill has been brought forward. It is based on the timeline of the 2020 ruling, the April ruling and getting clarity that it would not change in the Supreme Court. The legislation was brought to Cabinet the following week and we have moved as quickly as we can. The end of term has not helped us in this instance.

I stress again that what is in the Bill limits the data we can retain more than what already exists and adds additional safeguards. This includes even when we refer to journalists accessing certain information. We have to show it is in the overriding public interest. We have to make sure there is necessity and it is proportional. We must also have judicial authorisation. There are quite a number of safeguards. I appreciate it is something we need to come back to and discuss further with regard to the wider Bill.

I am not sure why the sunset clause was ruled out of order. Perhaps it was a technicality. This amendment was put forward and discussed in the Dáil. Perhaps that may have been the case. I did not accept it in the Dáil. I will not go through the discussion there. I am not sure what happened in this regard. I thank all Senators for their time on this. I appreciate the manner in which it has gone through. I must stress this is really a response to make sure we are compliant and do not find ourselves in a situation over the summer where the Supreme Court makes a ruling and suddenly data companies are potentially deleting data or information that could be retained for very important purposes.