Data Retention and Pharmacy Placements

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I support Senator Alex White's call for a debate with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the issue of Internet and e-mail data retention which is being reported on in today's edition of The Irish Times. I am delighted that Senator de Búrca also has called for this and I ask her to use her influence within Government to ensure this statutory instrument does not see the light of day because it seems to me to encroach seriously on the constitutional rights of accused people and on the rights of us all in that it appears to enable the Garda Síochána to request access to Internet and e-mail data for the investigation of any sort of offence which carries of maximum penalty of six months or more. This would undermine all the legal understanding of what constitutes a serious offence. In all other legislation, including the Bail Act, it is defined as an offence carrying a five-year maximum penalty or more. This is also of concern to business because the proposed statutory instrument would impose onerous obligations on business to retain such data for a period 12 months. We need to have this debated urgently.

I also ask for a debate on another issue relating to pharmacies. There has been much discussion in both Houses about pharmacists and the Health Service Executive. I wish to raise an issue which has been brought to my attention by final year pharmacy students in Trinity College. They are very concerned about the lack of placements available to them for professional training. These are students coming to the end of their undergraduate course who need to have professional placements. Usually about 80% of the class would have obtained placements by now but this year only about 40% so far have obtained placements. They have contacted the Department of Health and Children about this issue and requested that more training placements be made available within hospitals, which is within the remit of the Minister for Health and Children to do, or that additional funding be made available to secure placements for them. This is a serious issue which will impinge on the future qualification of sufficient pharmacists in this country. I ask for a debate on this issue.