Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024
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Amendment of Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 | ||
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285. (1) The Act of 2011 is amended— | ||
(a) in section 1(1), by the deletion of the definition of “designated judge”, | ||
(b) in section 6E— | ||
(i) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2): | ||
“(2) A superior officer to whom an application under subsection (1) is made shall issue an authorisation under this section only if satisfied that— | ||
(a) paragraph (a) or (b) of the subsection applies in respect of the cell site location data concerned, | ||
(b) the issuing of the authorisation is necessary for, and proportionate to, the purposes for which the application is made, taking into account the impact of the disclosure of the cell site location data concerned pursuant to the authorisation on the fundamental rights of individuals, and | ||
(c) the circumstances of urgency giving rise to the application would render it impracticable to seek to achieve the objective specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1), as the case may be, under any other provision of this Act.”, | ||
(ii) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “that section, subject to the modification that a reference in those subsections to a superior officer shall be construed as a reference to a superior officer within the meaning of this section.” for “that section.”, | ||
(iii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3): | ||
“(3A) An application for an authorisation under this section shall not be made to a superior officer who has had any involvement in an action taken by the Garda Síochána in response to the circumstances that occasioned the making of the application and, accordingly, such a superior officer shall not consider such an application or issue an authorisation upon such an application.”, | ||
and | ||
(iv) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5): | ||
“(6) In this section, notwithstanding the definition of ‘superior officer’ in section 1(1), ‘superior officer’ means a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector.”, | ||
and | ||
(c) by the substitution of the following section for section 12: | ||
“12. (1) The Independent Examiner shall undertake the duties specified in this section. | ||
(2) The Independent Examiner shall ascertain whether An Garda Síochána, the Permanent Defence Force, the Revenue Commissioners and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission are complying with this Act. | ||
(3) For the purpose of performing his or her functions under this section, the Independent Examiner— | ||
(a) has the power to examine any case in which a disclosure request is made, and | ||
(b) may access and inspect any official documents or records relating to the request. | ||
(4) Without prejudice to section 242 of the Act of 2024, any person who was concerned in, or has information relevant to, the preparation or making of a disclosure request shall give the Independent Examiner, on his or her request, such information relating to the disclosure request as is in the person’s possession. | ||
(5) The Independent Examiner may, if he or she considers it desirable to do so, communicate with the Taoiseach or the Minister concerning disclosure requests and with the Data Protection Commissioner in connection with the functions of the Data Protection Commissioner under the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018. | ||
(6) Nothing in this section shall affect the functions of the Data Protection Commissioner under the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018. | ||
(7) In this section— | ||
‘Act of 2024’ means the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024; | ||
‘Data Protection Regulation’ means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 20162 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation); | ||
‘Independent Examiner’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2024.”. | ||
(2) For a period of 3 months from the date of the coming into operation of this section, the Act of 2011 shall, for the purpose specified in subsection (3), continue to apply as if section 12 of that Act had not been amended by subsection (1)(c). | ||
(3) The purpose referred to in subsection (2) is to permit the designated judge (within the meaning of the Act of 2011) to undertake the duties specified in section 12 of the Act of 2011, insofar as those duties apply to the operation of that Act, and compliance with its provisions, prior to the coming into operation of this section. | ||
(4) In this section, “Act of 2011” means the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 . | ||