Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Carroll for his contribution. I am going to ask a hypothetical question, with the caveat that it is still outworking in my head. We have a unique situation here with Brexit and the North. Obviously, there is movement of people regularly across both sides of the Border, whether for hospital appointments or involving people using credit cards, downloading apps or signing up to tourism websites and so on. At present, they are all subject to European guidelines. We are heading into a situation where that may remain the case or it may not. My hypothetical question is around any exploratory work or research into scenarios involving someone in the North if the North is no longer subject to these guidelines. Such a person would remain an EU citizen and continue to attend hospital appointments, use credit cards and download apps. Are such people, as EU citizens, protected by this legislation? This might not only apply in the case of the North, but it might apply to another jurisdiction. Is there a danger that their information could then be shared, used or abused in a way that is not compliant with the legislation as laid out here?