Cybercrime Act 2015, illegal access to a protected computer
Cybercrime Act 2015 (No. 14 of 2015), s. 6 (illegal access)
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 12 May 2015.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access the whole or part of a protected computer, meaning one connected to the Republic's security, defence, or international relations, a confidential law-enforcement source, communications, public-utility, or public-key infrastructure, or public safety and essential emergency services, without a lawful excuse.
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page that is not a protected computer of that kind has not itself been held to violate this section.
- Do not obtain electronic data that is specially protected against unauthorised access and not meant for you.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Wilfully accessing a protected computer without lawful excuse is punishable on conviction by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 7 years (s. 6(2)); no fine is provided as an alternative.
What it reaches
Obligation class
Access restriction
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 6 makes it an offence, punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years, for a person to wilfully and without lawful excuse access the whole or part of a 'protected computer'. The section defines a protected computer as one the offender knew, or ought reasonably to have known, is used directly in connection with the security, defence, or international relations of the Republic, or a confidential source of information relating to the enforcement of a criminal law.
It also reaches a computer used directly in connection with communications infrastructure, public utilities or public-key infrastructure, or the protection of public safety including systems related to essential emergency services. Because the offence's trigger is accessing a protected computer of that kind rather than any computer generally, a plain reading does not extend it to scraping an ordinary public, unauthenticated website that is not connected to those categories.
Section 9 separately criminalises data espionage, obtaining electronic data not meant for the offender that is specially protected against unauthorised access, which could reach scraping conducted behind a technical access control even where section 6 does not apply.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models