Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2020
460. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of data access requests GSOC and CAB have made to telecommunications and social media companies in the past three years to date in 2020 under the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011; the number of access requests that were approved and declined by the companies that the data was requested from; and the reason the data was sought. [43435/20]
View answerWith regard to the Criminal Assets Bureau, I can inform the Deputy that under section 8 of the Criminal Assets Bureau Act, Bureau officers retain the powers and duties conferred upon them by membership of their parent organisations. Bureau Officers include members of An Garda Síochána who are assigned to the Bureau.
I am advised that all applications made by An Garda Síochána under the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011, including those emanating from the Bureau, are dealt with centrally by the Telecoms Liaison Unit of An Garda Síochána.
The information provided in response to the Deputy’s question No. 754 of 24th November 2020 with regard to access requests made by An Garda Síochána therefore incorporates the relevant access requests by the Bureau.
In relation to GSOC, that body has provided the following information in accordance with section 81(4)(a)(ii) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, as amended.
The following table lists all applications that have been made in respect of the 2011 Act between 01 January 2017 and 14 December 2020.
Table – All 2011 Act Applications
|
Category |
2017 Applications |
2017 Returns |
2017 Refusal from CSP |
2018 Applications |
2018 Returns |
2018 Refusal from CSP |
2019 Applications |
2019 Returns |
2019 Refusal from CSP |
|
Subscriber |
15 |
14 |
0 |
11 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Call Data ( Mobile & Landlines) |
24 |
14 |
0 |
12 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Internet Subscriber |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Internet IP Data |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
The Deputy will be aware of the High Court Judgment of December 2018 which found certain provisions of the 2011 Act inconsistent with EU law and as a consequence the 2011 Act could not be relied on for access to retained data for the purposes of investigating serious crime. While other orders, such as search warrants, would be available to relevant agencies to access data, the 2011 Act was no longer available for the this purpose.
There is no data for 2020 applications as the 2011 Act has not been utilised during this time period.
