Ireland wants to give its cops spyware, ability to crack encrypted messages
(2026/01/21)
- Reference: 1769000725
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/21/ireland_wants_to_give_police/
- Source link:
The Irish government is planning to bolster its police's ability to intercept communications, including encrypted messages, and provide a legal basis for spyware use.
The Communications (Interception and Lawful Access) Bill is being framed as a replacement for the current legislation that governs digital communication interception.
The Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration said in an announcement this week the existing Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 "predates the telecoms revolution of the last 20 years."
[1]
As well as updating laws passed more than two decades ago, the government was keen to emphasize that a key ambition for the bill is to empower law enforcement to intercept of all forms of communications.
[2]
[3]
The Bill will bring communications from IoT devices, email services, and electronic messaging platforms into scope, "whether encrypted or not."
In a similar way to how [4]certain other governments want to compel encrypted messaging services to unscramble packets of interest, Ireland's announcement also failed to explain exactly how it plans to do this.
[5]
However, it promised to implement a robust legal framework, alongside all necessary privacy and security safeguards, if these proposals do ultimately become law. It also vowed to establish structures to ensure "the maximum possible degree of technical cooperation between state agencies and communication service providers."
Encryption… again
As law enforcement grows ever warmer to the idea of breaking encryption, privacy advocates and technologists keep warning them it is, in fact, impossible.
This idea of breaking encryption most commonly relates to messaging platforms that use end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Criminals like it because they cannot be snooped on, and law enforcement hates it for the same reason.
Fierce debates have ignited across the world over the matter, but perhaps the loudest of those, at least in recent times, has taken place in the UK, which last year allegedly compelled Apple to [6]break iCloud's Advanced Data Protection in a [7]failed pursuit of a so-called encryption backdoor.
Tech folk say E2EE is an absolute. You either have it, or you don't – there is no such thing as backdooring it. It ceases being "end-to-end" if between those ends is a stop along the way for any approved entities to see what's being sent.
EU member states are still battling over the controversial " [8]Chat Control " regulation, which recently – following public outcry – [9]removed the mandatory scanning component , although opponents [10]argue the proposals are still not suitably weakened.
Signal and Tuta Mail are two major service providers that threatened to withdraw from countries that implement encryption-busting laws and regulations.
The government [11]said it will follow the EU Commission's (EC) [12]roadmap for law enforcement data interception, including a section on encryption issues, which it published last year.
"There is an urgent need for a new legal framework for lawful interception which can be used to confront serious crime and security threats," said justice minister Jim O'Callaghan, announcing the news.
"The new legislation will also include robust legal safeguards to provide continued assurance that the use of such powers is necessary and proportionate.
He said new legislation is "long overdue", following "significant changes" to digital comms over the past twenty years that "existing legislation does not comprehend."
Spyware provision
Ireland will also take the EU's lead on spyware, establishing a legal provision for its use, only in cases of strict necessity.
The EC's 2024 [13]paper [PDF] examining the legality of spyware noted it could be used by member states, but only where situations absolutely require it. Programs must be used proportionally, with a judge's approval, and with stringent oversight.
[14]
The justice ministry said it would take this paper into consideration when developing Ireland's legal provision for using spyware. Example cases could include accessing data on a device or network, or covert recordings of communications on a device, or over a network, the government said.
In addition to spyware, Ireland is looking to establish a legal power for police to scan electronic equipment in a specific location to identify people of interest and their associates in relation to serious crime investigations. Examples of this technology in action include police camping outside a single location, and operating [15]IMSI catchers to identify those inside.
[16]Rather than add a backdoor, Apple decides to kill iCloud encryption for UK peeps
[17]AWS flips switch on Euro cloud as customers fret about digital sovereignty
[18]IPv6 just turned 30 and still hasn't taken over the world, but don't call it a failure
[19]UK surveillance law still full of holes, watchdog warns
Olga Cronin, surveillance and human rights senior policy officer at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), said the nonprofit "has very serious concerns about this shopping list of surveillance powers," despite the proposals still being in their infancy.
"These are surveillance tools and powers of extraordinary reach, with sweeping implications for people's rights and freedoms, and come in the context of An Garda Síochána already expanding their 'eyes and ears' via the Recording Devices Bill," Cronin added.
The separate but related Recording Devices Bill was introduced in December 2025, proposing expanded police use of biometric recognition technology.
It did not say exactly how this would be implemented, but ministers describing the Bill's ambitions suggested that both live and retrospective facial recognition could become widely used across Ireland's police force.
"Once powers of this magnitude are normalised, the damage to rights and freedoms can be extremely difficult to reverse," said Cronin.
"We must also remember that measures introduced for exceptional or serious crimes tend, over time, to be used for much less serious crimes because there is institutional pressure to use them more frequently. What was once exceptional becomes routine." ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/opinion_e2ee/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXEGOKjWe42KKeGUy_92jwAAAZM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/rather_than_add_a_backdoor/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/19/uk_apple_backdoor_uturn/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/08/germany_chat_control_opposition/
[9] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/11/26/child-sexual-abuse-council-reaches-position-on-law-protecting-children-from-online-abuse/
[10] https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/reality-check-eu-council-chat-control-vote-is-not-a-retreat-but-a-green-light-for-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-the-end-of-right-to-communicate-anonymously/
[11] https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/press-releases/minister-jim-ocallaghan-secures-government-approval-to-publish-legislation-to-enable-garda%C3%AD-use-biometric-recognition-technologies/
[12] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52025DC0349
[13] https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2024)043-e
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXEGOKjWe42KKeGUy_92jwAAAZM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/04/dhs_secret_service_ice_stingray/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/rather_than_add_a_backdoor/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/15/aws_european_sovereign_cloud/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/31/ipv6_at_30/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/18/snoopers_charter_loopholes/
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Communications (Interception and Lawful Access) Bill is being framed as a replacement for the current legislation that governs digital communication interception.
The Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration said in an announcement this week the existing Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 "predates the telecoms revolution of the last 20 years."
[1]
As well as updating laws passed more than two decades ago, the government was keen to emphasize that a key ambition for the bill is to empower law enforcement to intercept of all forms of communications.
[2]
[3]
The Bill will bring communications from IoT devices, email services, and electronic messaging platforms into scope, "whether encrypted or not."
In a similar way to how [4]certain other governments want to compel encrypted messaging services to unscramble packets of interest, Ireland's announcement also failed to explain exactly how it plans to do this.
[5]
However, it promised to implement a robust legal framework, alongside all necessary privacy and security safeguards, if these proposals do ultimately become law. It also vowed to establish structures to ensure "the maximum possible degree of technical cooperation between state agencies and communication service providers."
Encryption… again
As law enforcement grows ever warmer to the idea of breaking encryption, privacy advocates and technologists keep warning them it is, in fact, impossible.
This idea of breaking encryption most commonly relates to messaging platforms that use end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Criminals like it because they cannot be snooped on, and law enforcement hates it for the same reason.
Fierce debates have ignited across the world over the matter, but perhaps the loudest of those, at least in recent times, has taken place in the UK, which last year allegedly compelled Apple to [6]break iCloud's Advanced Data Protection in a [7]failed pursuit of a so-called encryption backdoor.
Tech folk say E2EE is an absolute. You either have it, or you don't – there is no such thing as backdooring it. It ceases being "end-to-end" if between those ends is a stop along the way for any approved entities to see what's being sent.
EU member states are still battling over the controversial " [8]Chat Control " regulation, which recently – following public outcry – [9]removed the mandatory scanning component , although opponents [10]argue the proposals are still not suitably weakened.
Signal and Tuta Mail are two major service providers that threatened to withdraw from countries that implement encryption-busting laws and regulations.
The government [11]said it will follow the EU Commission's (EC) [12]roadmap for law enforcement data interception, including a section on encryption issues, which it published last year.
"There is an urgent need for a new legal framework for lawful interception which can be used to confront serious crime and security threats," said justice minister Jim O'Callaghan, announcing the news.
"The new legislation will also include robust legal safeguards to provide continued assurance that the use of such powers is necessary and proportionate.
He said new legislation is "long overdue", following "significant changes" to digital comms over the past twenty years that "existing legislation does not comprehend."
Spyware provision
Ireland will also take the EU's lead on spyware, establishing a legal provision for its use, only in cases of strict necessity.
The EC's 2024 [13]paper [PDF] examining the legality of spyware noted it could be used by member states, but only where situations absolutely require it. Programs must be used proportionally, with a judge's approval, and with stringent oversight.
[14]
The justice ministry said it would take this paper into consideration when developing Ireland's legal provision for using spyware. Example cases could include accessing data on a device or network, or covert recordings of communications on a device, or over a network, the government said.
In addition to spyware, Ireland is looking to establish a legal power for police to scan electronic equipment in a specific location to identify people of interest and their associates in relation to serious crime investigations. Examples of this technology in action include police camping outside a single location, and operating [15]IMSI catchers to identify those inside.
[16]Rather than add a backdoor, Apple decides to kill iCloud encryption for UK peeps
[17]AWS flips switch on Euro cloud as customers fret about digital sovereignty
[18]IPv6 just turned 30 and still hasn't taken over the world, but don't call it a failure
[19]UK surveillance law still full of holes, watchdog warns
Olga Cronin, surveillance and human rights senior policy officer at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), said the nonprofit "has very serious concerns about this shopping list of surveillance powers," despite the proposals still being in their infancy.
"These are surveillance tools and powers of extraordinary reach, with sweeping implications for people's rights and freedoms, and come in the context of An Garda Síochána already expanding their 'eyes and ears' via the Recording Devices Bill," Cronin added.
The separate but related Recording Devices Bill was introduced in December 2025, proposing expanded police use of biometric recognition technology.
It did not say exactly how this would be implemented, but ministers describing the Bill's ambitions suggested that both live and retrospective facial recognition could become widely used across Ireland's police force.
"Once powers of this magnitude are normalised, the damage to rights and freedoms can be extremely difficult to reverse," said Cronin.
"We must also remember that measures introduced for exceptional or serious crimes tend, over time, to be used for much less serious crimes because there is institutional pressure to use them more frequently. What was once exceptional becomes routine." ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXEGOKjWe42KKeGUy_92jwAAAZM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/opinion_e2ee/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXEGOKjWe42KKeGUy_92jwAAAZM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/rather_than_add_a_backdoor/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/19/uk_apple_backdoor_uturn/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/08/germany_chat_control_opposition/
[9] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/11/26/child-sexual-abuse-council-reaches-position-on-law-protecting-children-from-online-abuse/
[10] https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/reality-check-eu-council-chat-control-vote-is-not-a-retreat-but-a-green-light-for-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-the-end-of-right-to-communicate-anonymously/
[11] https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/press-releases/minister-jim-ocallaghan-secures-government-approval-to-publish-legislation-to-enable-garda%C3%AD-use-biometric-recognition-technologies/
[12] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52025DC0349
[13] https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2024)043-e
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXEGOKjWe42KKeGUy_92jwAAAZM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/04/dhs_secret_service_ice_stingray/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/rather_than_add_a_backdoor/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/15/aws_european_sovereign_cloud/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/31/ipv6_at_30/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/18/snoopers_charter_loopholes/
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
graemep
Yes, and as with "some other governments" (which seems to be turning into all western governments) the intent is to enable mass surveillance because actual criminals will be careful to take precautions against this such as encrypting files before sending, or using code words, or steganography, or private systems (maybe located in another jurisdiction), etc.
The theory runs something like this...
Tron
As a citizen, you are the property of the state, and so have no right to privacy from the state.
Re: The theory runs something like this...
Yet Another Anonymous coward
But this state is the property of Microsoft, Google and Apple so expert some exemptions
Tools
elsergiovolador
These are surveillance tools and powers of extraordinary reach
What kind of tools?
Re: Tools
Yet Another Anonymous coward
Irish police need the technology to crack [1]encryption in driving licenses
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7899171.stm
Rory B Bellows
"Programs must be used proportionally, with a judge's approval, and with stringent oversight."
Phew... was worried there for a second.
Reality
Anonymous Coward
The ability for LEA to install malware is already a reality in most European countries. Ireland is simply late to the party.
"However, it promised to implement a robust legal framework, alongside all necessary privacy and security safeguards, if these proposals do ultimately become law."
And, like all the others, it's not providing a proof of concept to submit to expert analysis to show it to be possible. Odd, that.