Citizens’ records: move to halt criticism
The move to keep these records on file for up to three years has sparked fierce criticism from civil liberties groups, who say it is an unnecessary invasion into people’s privacy.
But the Department of Justice, which is spearheading the move, says it’s a vital tool in the fight against crime.
Today’s launch of the consultation process will include speakers from a range of backgrounds including Justice Minister Michael McDowell, the Gardaí and the Data Protection Commissioner, Joe Meade.
The director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Liam Herrick, said he would be seeking major changes to the legislation.
“Three years is a very long time because of the risk that this information could be misused by State officials,” he said.
“The US Senate and the House of Commons have already blocked this type of legislation from coming into force in their countries. The Government’s plans are far in excess of what the European Commission and others see as an appropriate period for data retention,” he said.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice, however, said information such as phone records were routinely kept for anything up to three years by phone companies for legal reasons.
This kind of information has already proved crucial in a number of criminal investigations, the spokesman said. Dundalk publican Colm Murphy, for example, was convicted of conspiring to cause the Omagh bombing, based party on incriminating mobile phone records.
The consultation process itself has been criticised by the ICCL, which says it is more of an information-sharing exercise than a genuine attempt to consult interested parties.
“They didn’t even have the Data Protection Commissioner on the agenda in the first place, and he was only included after a number of complaints were made,” Mr Herrick said.
“The fact that the Minister for Justice and An Garda Siochána are the main speakers shows this is heavily weighted towards the State,” he said.
The Department of Justice has said the information commissioner’s name was not included on the initial draft of speakers’ names as the line-up was not yet finalised.
Minister McDowell has also rejected much of the criticism surrounding the legislation, and has said information will not be stored in large databases.
Today’s consultation process is just the first part in a running consultation process.
A Department spokesman said the process would help inform the drafting of the bill.
This kind of legislation was the subject of much debate in the US earlier this month, when Congress and the Senate voted to pull funding from the FBI’s planned total information awareness (TIA) programme. This would have gathered digital information to produce profiles of every United States citizen.
