Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2022-07-13
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

While it is useful to reference the principal Act in respect of amendment No. 11, in terms of a "revenue offence", I feel quite strongly about amendment No. 8 and, indeed, the principles in amendments Nos. 9 and 10. An offence as constituted in that section is potentially extremely wide. We do not want a situation where there is a suspicion that a minor offence will become a justification or reason for a member of An Garda Síochána to be accessing user data. I will be frank; we know we have had situations in the past where access to data has been abused. Far too often, we see on television programmes the idea that you can just run a number and get some information. Again, that is actually inappropriate and it is not the case.
This comes to the other amendments, which are important to Members. Amendments Nos. 9 and 10-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-07-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-07-13