Justice Minister Helen McEntee will seek Cabinet approval to draft new legislation to help Gardaí tackle online crime. 

She will propose the General Scheme for the Criminal Justice (Protection, Preservation and Access to Data on Information Systems) Bill 2024 today. 

The bill seeks to ensure Gardaí have access to effective powers for access to criminal evidence in digital form. 

Under the legislation, Gardaí will also be able to apply for preservation and production orders to be served on internet service providers. 

With the increase of online crimes such as phishing, identity theft and hacking, this new bill will provide tools to enable Gardaí to access online evidence easily and efficiently while ensuring individuals’ privacy rights are respected. 

Traditional search and seize legislation was drafted to target physical spaces and objects and predates the technological evolution seen in recent years. 

Most evidence of online crimes is only available through digital footprints within private online cloud infrastructures, but this proposed bill would give Gardaí to investigate online crimes through this infrastructure. 

Reporting by Tom Douglas.