06 July 2022
ICCL and Digital Rights Ireland have written to all members of the Oireachtas to outline our serious concerns regarding the Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) bill 2022.
These are our main concerns:
- The bill will permit rolling one-year renewable data retention: in effect, indefinite retention;
- The bill fails to provide any definition of national security;
- The bill fails to provide for protection of journalists’ sources;
- The bill fails to provide an adequate oversight mechanism;
- There is no judicial remedy for a breach of the powers in this bill;
- The bill attempts to retrospectively validate illegal data retention, contrary to EU law.
- The bill attempts to interfere with the independence of the courts and of the Data Protection Commission.