Yesterday’s Irish Examiner ran with the story of the 2022 data retention Act not being sent to the EU before being passed.
If a draft law should be sent, but isn’t, the Act can’t become law.
The Act had been barrelled through in the last two weeks of July.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41021237.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Today’s Irish Examiner has the story of another Act rammed through in July without proper debate or scrutiny.
The Dept of Housing, rather eccentrically, decided to regulate political advertising on the internet. (A topic that does need careful legislation)
This one was sent to the EU for comment. The Dept was told it was illegal, but didn’t tell the Dáil or Seanad and rammed it through after being told not to proceed by the EU.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-41022164.html
Long-time followers will have heard me use the phrase Scofflaw State before.
The Irish State has increasingly become hostile to complying with its EU law obligations, even going so far as to argue in court documents that pieces of EU law don’t have direct effect in Ireland and that State bodies can’t apply EU law directly.
See also the Minister for Children etc’s attempt to seal Mother and Baby Home records for 30 years in absurd contravention to GDPR rights of access to personal data.
The Minister just denied to the Oireachtas that the GDPR applied.
The most recent story on the Act to control political advertising on the internet (which, again, I think does need careful lawful regulation) is startling mostly because of how heedlessly the Act was jammed through.
The Dept, while hiding the #EUCommission view that it was illegal from the Oireachtas, ended up saying they would pass another law later to amend any impractical or illegal parts of the July text.
Simon McGarr
Gerard Cunningham ✒️
bwalsh