Graham Dwyer’s challenge to a controversial law which allowed his mobile phone data to be retained looks set to be bolstered in Europe.
The European Court of Justice is yet to answer some key questions posed by the Supreme Court in Ireland, but the opinion of its top advisor was published today.
Graham Dwyer is serving a life sentence for the 2012 murder of childcare worker, Elaine O’Hara.
He hasn’t appealed his conviction yet, but he plans to and case was given a huge boost in 2018 when the High Court ruled that the law which allowed gardai to access his mobile phone data was ‘too general and indiscriminate’ when it came to the retention of that information in the first place.
After hearing the State’s appeal, the Supreme Court sent a number of questions to Europe. They’re yet to be answered but the ECJ’s senior advisor delivered his opinion on the case today.
In it, he reinforces the High Court judgement three years ago, and also references the fact that access to such data doesn’t appear to be subject to prior review by a court or an independent authority.
His opinion isn’t binding on the court but is seen as a good indication of what way the judgement will land when it’s eventually delivered.
