Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 427: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of the statutory instrument on e-mail data retentions; when he expects to introduce it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7703/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the retention of data was due to be transposed by September 2007. Following consultations between interested parties and my Department, I expect to shortly finalise my proposals so that the Directive can be transposed into Irish law in the coming months.

Transposition of the Directive will result in Ireland having a similar system of data retention to all of the other Member States of the European Union. This will allow the Member States to cooperate more fully in responding to crime and in particular to transnational criminal gangs and to the threats posed by terrorists, both from within and from outside the European Union.

Ireland has challenged the legal base of the Directive before the European Court of Justice. This challenge relates to a point of principle rather than to the substance of the Directive with which we have no significant difficulty. Our challenge to the Directive does not absolve us from our responsibility to transpose the Directive and, as I have outlined, work is progressing steadily in that regard.