TDs and senators on the Joint Committee on Enterprise have pushed back on Leo Varadkar’s proposed laws permitting competition authorities to use wiretaps and surveillance to tackle white collar crime, saying they are too broad and may conflict with Constitutional, European and international human rights law.

In a pre-legislative scrutiny report on Competition Bill 2021, the committee identified 17 issues it wanted addressed in the drafting of the bill, including specific limits on how the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) might conduct covert surveillance.

“As currently drafted, the General Scheme does not appear to address how the surveillance powers proposed will operate, including the level of oversight and compliance with the minimum requirements for the interception of communications in criminal investigations as identified by the European Court of Human Rights,” the report said.

The bill as envisaged by the Department of Enterprise would grant sweeping new powers to competition officers to intercept electronic communications to fight cartels.

According to a consultation document published in January, the Tánaiste is seeking to allow the CCPC to bypass An Garda Siochána to gather evidence of white collar crimes independently.

The proposed law includes provisions to wiretap telephone conversations, access internet communications and obtain clandestine recordings of private meetings.

Currently the CCPC only has access to metadata, which shows when individuals have been communicating, but does not provide the content of those communications.

The surveillance provisions are part of a package of measures to strengthen the CCPC's capacity to clamp down on business conspiracies and collusion.

The Competition Bill also includes new rules on bid-rigging and powers to prosecute "gun jumping" on mergers – when parties complete a merger illicitly after failing to notify the commission.

The proposals would vastly increase the power of the CCPC to detect, investigate and prosecute illegal cartel activities, but would put Ireland out of step with much of Europe. Among EU states only Austria has similar provisions.

The Committee held two meetings in February 2021 with officials from the Department and then with representatives of the CCPC and Comreg to assess how these new powers might be used.

Officials said they wanted to expand their current power to get as much access to communications as possible while applying current legal safeguards for those suspected of breaking the law.

The department has acknowledged the importance of judicial oversight and indicated that surveillance would be done with a warrant.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties is concerned that the CCPC could acquire the power to intercept communications. It wants safeguards such as proof of necessity, a system of oversight and that any surveillance would be proportional to the right to privacy.