Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Carroll for his presentation. I promise I will not talk for too long. I do not understand this matter as much as I would like to yet, but we will get there eventually. It is very complex and I can see problems on both sides. It will be very hard to get the legislation perfect in any form.

In April of this year, the Germans approved a bill giving effect to the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, which includes a specific provision on Article 82 of the GDPR. With regard to the general scheme of the Irish Bill, while there is a reference in the explanatory notes of head 24 to the fact that Article 82 of the GDPR provides that a person suffering material or non-material damage as a result of the infringement of the GDPR has a right to receive compensation, the general scheme of the Bill does not include an explicit right in this regard. The question here is whether the wording of Article 82 of the GDPR is clear enough to be horizontally effective or whether the right to compensation needs implementing legislation in Ireland which would give direct effect to Article 82 of the GDPR. If this matter is not cleared up in legislation, we could be leading ourselves open to compensation cases from Europe and elsewhere. Has the Department obtained legal advice as to whether Article 82 of the GDPR, concerning the right to receive compensation, needs national implementing legislation?