Likely CJEU ruling ‘hard to justify’ – minister
The Minister for Justice has warned that an expected upcoming judgment from the EU’s highest court could be “very hard to justify”.
Speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Jim O’Callaghan described the upcoming decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the rights of asylum-seekers to accommodation as “very consequential”.
Earlier this year, stated that Ireland could not avoid responsibility for providing adequate reception conditions, even in cases where there was a large influx of people seeking international protection.
If that opinion was upheld by the CJEU, “which is the most likely outcome”, the minister warned, it would mean that people in Ireland on social-housing lists or homeless lists who had not been provided with accommodation could not receive damages for the State’s failure to provide accommodation.
On the other hand, he added, applicants for asylum would immediately on arrival in Ireland be able to claim and receive damages from the State if it could not provide them with accommodation.
“We should try to ensure that in trying to vindicate certain rights we do not marginalise or demote other equally legitimate rights,” the minister stated.
Encrypted services
He also told the event that he was looking at extending the range of communications services that can be intercepted by law-enforcement authorities, saying that the right to privacy had to be balanced with the collective right to security.
He told the event that existing legislation – the – was now more than 30 years old.
The minister said that the 1993 act’s effectiveness had been affected by developments in technology and debates on the appropriate balance of individual privacy rights.
“While the act applies to traditional landline and mobile telecommunications, it does not explicitly apply to newer types of encrypted digital-based messaging and voice calling services that we all use today,” he stated, adding that annual reports compiled each year by the designated judge for the act had called attention to this fact.
He described it as “a matter of considerable concern” that it was not currently possible for State agencies to carry out lawful interception on these services.
‘Clear legal principle’
Pointing to a European Commission ‘roadmap’ on the issue published earlier this year, he said that such debates were not confined to Ireland.
The minister told the event that work on a review of the 1993 act was underway, and he intended to bring proposals to Government in the coming months for the drafting of the heads of a new Communications (Interception and Lawful Access) Bill.
“This will seek to establish the clear legal principle that interception powers apply to all communication services,” he stated.
He added that he would include “enhanced legal safeguards” – including judicial authorisation.
“I believe effective lawful interception powers can be accompanied by robust privacy, encryption, and digital-security safeguards, to ensure that they are only used when necessary and proportionate,” Minister O’Callaghan said.
‘Flawed’ FRT debate
His speech also referred to what he called the “flawed” debate on granting gardaí access to facial-recognition technology (FRT).
“The positions that many have taken publicly seem to be rooted in the deployment of technologies in other jurisdictions and interpretations of what is planned that don’t meet reality,” the minister said.
He outlined plans to publish a bill in the autumn to amend the , allowing gardaí to process retrospectively biometric data, with “significant safeguards”.
The minister signalled, however, that a second piece of legislation would be needed in this area to provide for “retrospective and potentially live biometric identification and analysis”.