The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of Graham Dwyer’s arguments against the legality of a law governing mobile phone data.
The law, which compelled service providers to retain certain data, was used to access records as part of the investigation into Elaine O’Hara’s murder.
Graham Dwyer is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ms O’Hara. During the trial, call records and evidence of where certain phones were at various times were used.
But in 2018, Dwyer’s team successfully convinced the High Court that the law, which allowed for the retention of such data, contravened EU law.
This High Court decision means it could be argued that Gardai didn’t have a right to access the data in such a way.
The State appealed that decision to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court sought clarity from Europe, leading to today's ruling.
In its ruling, the European Court of Justice confirmed that "EU law precludes the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data for the purposes of combating serious crime.”
The Supreme Court will have to uphold today’s ruling, which does not automatically mean Dwyer will win his appeal against his murder conviction, but it very likely strengthens his hand.
