Mr. Barry Lowry:

There are elements of it that are tidying up what is already happening. To give a specific example, when we did the customer survey for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that I referred to in my opening submission, one of the frustrations that really came across was that the public does not like being asked for data that we have already collected from them. If someone is applying for his or her first driving licence after he or she has applied for a first passport, we already know all the data about the person. For us to populate fields, etc., on the person's behalf is simply good government. Many of the European initiatives are very much aimed at governments making that happen. That would be an example of where we would put in place the mechanisms in order that if an individual provides us with obvious data about name, address, marital status and so on, we will reuse that information. The other really important part of the legislation is to ensure that no one Department can hold data that is not required for the purposes of their business. For example, sexual orientation is a piece of data that only very specific bodies would be entitled to hold and use. The legislation provides a framework where data like that would simply not be used and not be shared.