McDowell set to back calls on phone records

The Minister for Justice is expected to back British calls for legislation forcing mobile telephone companies and internet service providers (ISPs) to store details of communications at a meeting in Brussels today.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell

Mr Michael McDowell will attend a meeting of European Union ministers called by British Home Secretary Charles Clarke in the wake of last week's London bombings.

Ireland, along with Britain, France and Sweden, submitted a motion to the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) last April calling for telephone and internet records to be retained for up to three years. The records would be used to help trace criminal activity.

The LIBE rejected the proposals, arguing that measures to prevent data being traced could easily be circumvented. They may use frontmen to buy telephone cards, switch networks or "simply use ISPs outside Europe not subject to data retention regulations", it said.

The LIBE also said it could take police forces decades to sift through all phone and internet records in their search for evidence.

In addition, it warned the measures might breach Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to respect for private and family life.

Mr Clarke will today address the committee with new proposals drawn up following the attacks on London's transport system. Speaking ahead of the meeting, he revealed that police were examining telephone records in the hunt for the bombers' accomplices.

"We are looking very, very closely at the relationship between the people who may have committed the offences and the wider network around them," he said. "The telecommunications data is an important weapon in investigating that."

He will also press other EU ministers on the introduction of biometric ID cards for all citizens. His proposals are facing fierce opposition in Britain, with opponents arguing they could cost £10 billion to introduce, would fail to halt terrorism and would erode public freedom.

Mr McDowell has voiced reservations about the introduction of such cards. He said the Government needed to achieve a balance between the need for increased security and the public's right to privacy. The cost of introducing the cards would also be an issue, he said.

However, the minister has conceded the introduction of a compulsory national ID card in Britain would have serious implications for Ireland because of the Northern Ireland situation.

Irish citizens travelling to the North or Britain currently do not need to carry a passport with them, but this situation could change if the British public are legally obliged to carry an ID card.

Fine Gael has called on the Government not to "blindly follow" the UK and introduce ID cards. Justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe said the bombings would not have been prevented even if Britain had compulsory identification.

He estimated the cost of introducing cards in Ireland at up to €1 billion. He called on the Government to hold a debate on the issue and publish a Green Paper outlining all the arguments for and against the system.

"This issue is being foisted on us without any sort of debate, whether in the Oireachtas or among the public at large," Mr O'Keeffe argued. "Identity cards must not be introduced until it has been proved that they are a realistic and cost-effective proposition. So far this case has not been made."