Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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490. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the measures he is taking to preserve privacy online and protection of citizens' data in the wake of significant breaches of internet privacy being committed by the American National Security Agency and the British GCsa; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36063/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As I have indicated to the House previously, I, of course, fully understand the concerns which have arisen in the wake of recent media reports about the PRISM programme. I am aware too of reports which have appeared about the alleged activities of other security agencies. I raised the concerns which had been expressed about the PRISM programme with the US Attorney General Eric Holder at my recent meetings with him in Dublin. At these meetings, the US Attorney General provided clarity on a number of issues, in particular with regard to the nature of the information collected and processed, i.e. phone numbers, duration of calls etc - but not the content of calls. He also advised that the data was collected under judicial authority and only where there was a reasonable suspicion of serious crime.

We cannot ignore the very important fact that there is a recognised need to protect our citizens from terrorist threats and dealing with that does require access to certain data. I will continue to make the point at international level that in doing so it is necessary to ensure that the information used is properly obtained and subject to appropriate safeguards. I have emphasised the importance of protecting individual rights to privacy and ensuring respect for individual human rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights as well as the crucial need to ensure that any security surveillance undertaken is balanced and appropriate.

It was agreed that data protection and security experts from the US and from the EU would meet to clarify remaining matters as necessary. The Presidency in office and the responsible European Commissioner will lead on this from the European side with regard to the data protection and privacy matters within EU competence. A first meeting has taken place to initiate this process and a further meeting is due to take place later this month to further discuss issues arising.

The Deputy will be aware that in this country we have data protection legislation to protect individuals against unwarranted invasion into their privacy and a clear legal framework for the accessing of information. In turn, that framework is subject to judicial oversight. More generally, I can tell the Deputy that substantial progress was made during the Irish Presidency advancing key aspects of the EU's data protection reform package. A further indicator of our commitment in this area is the significant increases which have taken place in the resources made available to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, notwithstanding the current difficult economic circumstances.