Department backs increase in garda attempts to access email

The Department of Justice has defended the growing number of cases of gardaí accessing emails and said existing laws allowed for the practice.

The Microsoft Transparency Report on Thursday highlighted the increase of cases in which gardaí requested access to digital communications, following a similar report published by Google last year.

It prompted a number of questions from the chairman of civil rights group Digital Rights Ireland, UCD law lecturer TJ McIntyre, as to whether or not current laws allowed for the practice and provided adequate oversight.