Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I have to leave at 9.50 a.m. so I apologise to the Data Protection Commissioner as I will not be able to stay for that presentation. This is the first day of what will be a sizeable body of work for the committee. It is incredibly technical work in some ways, and a bit of snoozefest in some ways as a result, although I am not talking about the presentations, of course. Separate to that, however, the issues of privacy and transparency are obviously critical and the question of how we balance that, bring it out and engage with stakeholders will be important.

While I am not hugely prepared on the issue, I will work on the basis of a Ladybird version, given the points made by Mr. Carroll about the backdrop to this being higher EU data protection standards and also the rapidly developing case law from the EU Court of Justice. We have had the implications of the Barrett judgment in regard to information in the context of the recent actions on the public services card and the individual health identifier. In that scenario, we have one arm of Government, if one likes, engaged in a course of action of sharing data which seems to be blatantly against what the Barrett judgment states about Departments not being allowed to share information without prior consent. Given that is happening now, how will this Bill impact going forward? Mr. Carroll said this will be brought forward in the autumn. Will this project have to be abandoned in the autumn as a result or do we have any indication of the implications at this stage?