Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Senator’s concerns on surveillance and surveillance of public spaces, and I believe they are genuinely and sincerely held. However, we live in an increasingly data-driven and software-driven world. In some parts of the world, it feels as if there is an awful lot more surveillance, though I am not sure how proactively managed it is.

I welcome this legislation and the amendments being brought forward. I acknowledge and thank the leader of my party, Deputy Micheál Martin, and Deputies McAuliffe and Lawless for the work they did on it.

I come from the constituency of Dublin Central in the inner city of Dublin where, unfortunately, lives have been lost through the misuse of vehicles. Quads and scramblers used in an antisocial way have taken lives and destroyed many other lives - the family and friends of those who lost their lives. They have robbed our public spaces from the rest of our community who feel that public spaces or parks - I am thinking of the lovely Tolka Valley Park and other parks in the area - have become unsafe for other citizens to use. I welcome the additional powers being introduced to ensure that scramblers, quads and other vehicles are used in a positive way, that the Garda are given powers to seize and prosecute antisocial use of such vehicles and that there will be increased penalties.

The solution to concerns about how data is used is not to exclude the use of data gathering from legislation. It is, as the Minister proposed, to regulate that use. We live in a world where there is an increasing use and gathering of data. We need to ensure that it is used in a well regulated, responsible and transparent way. For that reason, we support the legislation and look forward to it being enacted.