Funferal

Ireland pushing for data retention in Europe

A fascinating detail appears in this story about the proposal for data retention in the EU. It seems that the proposal, which is opposed by MEPs, was proposed by “France, the UK, Sweden and Ireland.”
Why does this matter? Well, as reported previously on funferal Ireland has already brought in legislation requiring data retention for three years. At the time the government claimed this was to comply with legal requirements imposed by Europe. As reported by Privacy International:

In April 2002, the Minister for Public Enterprise issued directions at the request of the Minister of Justice to oblige service providers to retain data for at least three years. The Government argued that this was a necessary temporary bridging of the gap between the transposition of the EU Directive on privacy and electronic communications into Irish law. This is misleading because the 2002 Directive did not require data retention.

If Ireland is one of those proposing the – not (yet) implemented – data retention rules at a European level it seems most disingenuous to use the “Europe is making us” argument to push them through the national parliament. Doubly so because the rules have not actually been approved at a European level….