08/10/09

Speaking in the Dáil today on the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009, Deputy Sean Sherlock said: "This is an important piece of legislation and while it seeks to transpose an EC Directive for which we have an obligation, the content of the legislation which has been published is extremely weak. It needs to be strengthened on the basis that it will place too high a cost burden on business and does not have adequate judicial oversight.

"I have serious reservations with this Bill, judicial oversight is too weak and the retention of data for a period of 2 years as proposed by this Bill could lead the process to be open to abuse.

 

"I am critical of the fact that the two year retention period for keeping data will present too high a cost for internet service providers (ISP) and telephone companies. The standard across Europe seems to be six months and this to my mind would be more a reasonable approach.

 

 

"The Judicial oversight is too weak and I believe the process has to be open to greater scrutiny by a Judge and this process must be more clearly defined. The present wording in Section 11 of the Bill should be strengthened and we hope to amend this wording at Committee stage.

 

 

"We are not against the principle of data retention but the concerns addressed by the Tech sector and telcos must be addressed in the legislation. The Bill as published does not address these concerns and I hope that there will be a further consultation between the Minister and the telecommunications sector before this Bill is passed.

 

 

"Unless their concerns are addressed within the Bill in terms of the increased cost burden, then it will be very difficult to support the Bill."

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