Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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175. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the laws that prevent a member of the public who is of a different political persuasion from videoing, following and harassing a public representative who is out in a housing estate canvassing and calling door to door to meet with members of the public and to listen to their complaints and problems; the penalties and remedies for those subject to this type of bullying and harassment by professional protestors; her plans to improve the law in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25075/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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While I can not speculate as to what, if any, legislative provision is applicable to the circumstances of any particular incident, I would note that there are provisions of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 and the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 which may be relevant to the general issue which the Deputy raises. In particular, section 5 of the 1994 Act provides for the offence of disorderly conduct in public place and section 10 of the 1997 Act provides for the offence of harassment.

If a person is being subjected to disorderly conduct or harassment, he or she should, of course, report it to the Garda Síochána who can take the appropriate action to address such behaviour. Consideration can also be given to consulting one's solicitor to explore whether appropriate civil remedies, including, perhaps, injunctive reliefs, might be appropriate in the circumstances of a given case.

Moreover, since the activity referred to does not appear to fall within the ‘household’ exemption under the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003, i.e. the provision whereby personal data kept by an individual and concerned only with the management of his or her personal, family or household affairs or kept only for recreational purposes are exempt from the Acts, the recording of such personal data appears to come within the scope of data protection law. This means that the person responsible for such recording is a ‘data controller’ for the purposes of the Acts and any individual who is filmed may invoke the remedies provided under the Acts, including a right to establish the existence of personal data, a right of access to the data and a right to its erasure. Enforcement of data protection law in this jurisdiction is a matter for the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. The statutory functions of the Office include the investigation of alleged infringements of the Acts.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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176. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to update legislation dealing with criminal justice public order offences and the fines given; if she will outline those changes, if applicable; if she will advise as to whether the Law Reform Commission hasdone any work in this area regarding updating legislation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25076/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that An Garda Síochána makes regular and effective use of existing public order legislation in the course of meeting the policing needs of our communities. While these provisions are kept under ongoing review, there are no plans for their revision at present, nor am I aware of any recommendations from the Law Reform Commission in this regard.