Phone records: Privacy ‘very precious’ and laws need review - White

Minister for Communications Alex White has said “privacy is a very precious thing” and laws allowing access to phone records need to be reviewed “at the very least”.

Speaking on The Irish Times political podcast, Inside Politics, on Wednesday, Mr White said it was a challenge to strike a balance between the right to privacy and the administration of the criminal justice system.

“I think that our laws need definitely at the very least to be reviewed, which is what the Government decided yesterday to do - to look at international comparators and to reflect on a lot of change that’s occurred,” he said.

On Tuesday, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald announced a review of legislation allowing organisations to access the phone records of reporters, while saying she had no prior knowledge of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) availing of these powers.

Mr White said police forces had to have access to information, “and sometimes have to take steps to obtain information that doesn’t make any of us very comfortable”.

Almost 62,000 applications for access to landline, mobile phone and internet data were made to companies providing services to the Irish public by State authorities in a five-year period. An Garda Síochána made almost all of the requests.

‘Chills my blood’

Responding to podcast presenter Hugh Linehan’s comment that the idea so much data could be accessed by State agencies “chills my blood”, Mr White said: “You said that it chills your blood. It does mine as well, I have to say, because I think privacy is a very precious thing.”

However, Mr White said the particular powers being debated in the last few days could only have been used in instances where there was a very serious criminal offence being investigated.

“But I don’t want to downplay this. I think it’s a very serious issue for all of us.”

Mr White said modern advances in communications had resulted in a proliferation of platforms being used by all citizens, not just journalists.

“Citizens may have half a dozen different ways of communicating with one another. Should they all be amenable to access from the police forces in certain circumstances? Why would you choose one and not the other?”

He said if the laws were revised, the modern-day definition of a journalist would need to be considered.

“Some people will claim that we’re all journalists, that everybody’s a journalist - we communicate, give our views, opine, assert things as factual online which other people may question.

“So the traditional definition of a journalist is also I think open to scrutiny and open to question.”