Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McGarr and Mr. McIntyre for attending the committee meeting. Listening to both of them and their views as to what areas in the legislation could be improved has been informative. I will make a few comments about the structure of the Bill because both Mr. McGarr and Mr. McIntyre raised it. They are correct in stating that it would be preferable if the 1988 and 2003 Acts were repealed in order that people who want to know what the law on data protection in Ireland is could come to one new piece of legislation and see it there rather than have to go back to legislation from 14 years ago and from 1988. I had not been aware of the potential for confusion that can arise from the inclusion of Part 4. There may be logic in trying to separate the GDPR legislative basis from the other one. That is really a matter for Government. It will be difficult for us to do that as a committee by way of an amendment, but it is an interesting point and something to which I will give further consideration.

In respect of the point made by Mr. McIntyre about the representation of data subjects, I would have thought there is a legitimate concern on the part of data controllers, the Oireachtas and Government that this could become an overly litigious area. While there are people who have minor data breaches and who are perfectly entitled to have them ruled upon, there could be a concern on the part of the Legislature or Executive that it will involve lawyers taking cases, and even though there is minimal compensation to be paid, it will result in a lot of costs. I can understand why that is a legitimate concern.

I am interested in the reference to the non-profit entities. I looked at the definition of a non-profit entity in Article 80. Will the witnesses provide us with further explanations? What would be a non-profit entity in an Irish context? Obviously, Digital Rights Ireland would probably be one. Will Mr. McIntyre give us other examples?