Mr. Seamus Carroll:

I was going to respond to Senator Horkan's question on whether anything will change. It is true that individuals already have data-protection rights and that the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has certain remedies. The GDPR, however, strengthens the rights of individuals. It also strengthens the range of remedies of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. If an individual wants to exercise his data subject right at the moment and wants to find out whether a particular body has his personal data and what it is doing with it, he may apply to the relevant agency or Department and it will tell one. It will not necessary tell one, however, that it has shared that information with another Department. One is actually obtaining information on the processing that has taken place in the first Department but not necessarily on where the data has been shared. This legislation will make it transparent, through these memoranda, that the data have been shared. On the basis of that information, one may go to the other Department or agency and exercise one's rights. This will be very important in bringing about increased transparency so individuals can exercise their data-protection rights against all the agencies that are processing their personal data.