There has been so much political uncertainty in recent weeks that one wonders what business of Government has gone on unnoticed. One such item of business, I discovered from the A&L Goodbody legislative FAQ referred to earlier, was the passing by the Oireachtas of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011.

This controversial piece of legislation is not available,  as yet, in its final form as none of the Department of Justice, Houses of the Oireachtas or Irish Statute Book have published it.

The President signed the Act into law on 26 January 2011 but, as far as I am aware, this has not been reported on anywhere. The commencement date is not known but the latest draft available does not contain a commencement clause so, if one was not inserted before it was passed by the Oireachtas, it is now in effect.

[Update: I wasn’t correct in stating that the introduction of the Act hasn’t been reported on. I had missed Eoin O’Dell’s reference to its passing on his blog and Karlin Lillington‘s coverage in the Irish Times. She also covered the Seanad debates on twitter. However, it is still noteworthy that this news has been confined to analysis pieces and has not been headline news, by contrast with other rushed legislation recently signed by the President.]

According to the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland:

ISPs providing Internet services to the public are now obliged to retain certain data, as set out in the Act, identifying the occurrence of a communication (but not about the content of the communication itself). This must be done for every user, whether they are a private or business customer. In the case of Internet communications the ISP must keep the data for a period of one year … [The] ISPAI regrets [the passing of the Act] despite the trojan efforts of non-government Senators who argued the amendments (which were defeated) aimed at giving greater clarity to the legislation and particularly to minimise its potential to put Ireland at a cost disadvantage to our EU neighbours for Internet based business.

Digital Rights Ireland summarised the effect of the legislation when it was first put before the Oireacthas as follows:

In essence, the Bill requires telecommunications companies, internet service providers, and the like, to retain data about communications (though not the content of the communications); phone and mobile traffic data have to be retained for 2 years; internet communications have to be retained for one year … This will impose significant costs on those obliged to retain and secure the data, and those costs will be passed on to their already hard-pressed customers. And it is likely to drive international telecommunications and internet companies to European states which have introduced far less demanding regimes.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties made submissions to the Department of Justice about the legislation. Digital Rights Ireland took a constitutional challenge against the legislation and that challenge is en route to the European Court of Justice (the Act implements the EU data retention directive).

• Data Protection