I welcome the members, officials and witnesses as well as anyone who may be following the proceedings online or elsewhere. Apologies have been received from Deputies Carroll MacNeill and Senator Martin. Deputy Costello is en route. He is tied up at another meeting but will join us shortly.
The usual housekeeping notices apply. I remind members to turn off their mobile phones or switch them to flight mode so that they do not interfere with the recording.
I welcome the witnesses. So that everyone is on the same page, some of the witnesses are participating remotely - we can see them on screen - while others are physically with us in the committee room. This is a hybrid model that we have become accustomed to in recent times and it works well. Members will be doing the same, with some logging in remotely and others physically present in the room.
The purpose of this meeting is to have an engagement with a number of stakeholders as part of the committee's scrutiny of the general scheme of the communications (retention of data) (amendment) Bill 2022. Before I formally welcome the witnesses and get into the substance of the matter, I wish to point out that it is important that we have this meeting. This is the second meeting that the committee has held this week on this legislation. It is important legislation, which we will hear a great deal about and discuss over the next hour or two. It addresses a number of lacunas in the law arising from various European court decisions, decisions of the High Court and other court decisions even prior to that. It was the strong view of the committee that it was important that we give this Bill due diligence. We are mindful that there is an urgent deadline, with the Oireachtas’s summer recess coming. We understand the urgency and desire on the part of the Government to get this legislation passed quickly, but we also feel that quick is not always right and that we should review the Bill, take a position on it and make various recommendations, which can only assist the legislation as it progresses through the Houses. I thank the members of the committee, the staff and everyone across the board for working with me on this. I hope that we will produce a report, albeit a shortened one, this evening following our meeting. That report can only be helpful to the Minister and the Department. It is important that we do our constitutional duty in scrutinising legislation that is referred to us.
The following witnesses are attending remotely: Mr. Ronan Lupton, senior counsel; Dr. T.J. McIntyre, associate professor at the school of law in UCD; Mr. Dale Sunderland and Mr. Gary Russell from the Data Protection Commission, DPC; and Mr. Justin Kelly, assistant commissioner over organised and serious crime, and Mr. Michael Flynn, detective superintendent in the security and intelligence service, from the Office of the Garda Commissioner. Joining us in the room is Mr. Dan Kelleher, principal officer in the criminal legislation division of the Department of Justice. It is Mr. Kelleher's second time joining us this week. He was good enough to give us a private briefing on Monday. I apologise in advance to those who attended on Monday because there may be some duplication of questions, but members felt it important that some of the issues explored in private session be teased out in public session. It is for the benefit of others that we have some repetition.
To allow the meeting to flow smoothly, I ask that everyone participating remotely mute his or her device when not speaking and to unmute it when speaking. We are all used to that at this stage.
I will invite each organisation to make an opening statement of three minutes. When two or more witnesses are attending from the same organisation, they can decide among themselves whether one person will speak for the others, whether they will take 90 seconds each or whatever way they want to do it. Normally, one person makes an opening statement on behalf of his or her organisation. The witnesses will have plenty of time after the opening statements to engage in discussion with the committee. Having a short opener will allow time later in the meeting to explore issues. After the opening statements, I will go around the table to committee members. Each member will have seven minutes in which to put questions, make observations and hear answers. Those seven minutes will be shown on a clock at the top of the screen, allowing us to keep an eye on the time. If a member wants to make a speech for seven minutes or to use the seven minutes to ask seven questions and hear answers to them, that is fine. However the member wishes to use that time is up to him or her.
I will call on the organisations in a moment. I have been made aware that Mr. Lupton is due in the High Court at 11 a.m. This session may run a little after that, but I will allow him to make his statement first. If there are questions for him, members should direct them to him early. He will probably have to leave us at 10.30 a.m. to get to court.
I appreciate that, although this meeting was put together at short notice, the witnesses have made themselves available. It assists the work of the committee greatly to have them in the room with us as key stakeholders and knowledgeable experts.
Mr. Lupton will be up first. He will have three minutes to make his opening statement and will have plenty of time later in the meeting to elaborate as questions arise.