Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. In terms of the EU general data protection regulation, GDPR, on the age of consent, section 29 of the Data Protection Bill 2018 provides that, "The age of a child specified for the purposes of Article 8 is 13 years of age."

Article 8 itself says that, in relation to the offer of information society services directly to a child, the processing of the personal data of a child shall be lawful where the child is at least 16 years old. It also states that member states by law can provide for a lower age, not below 13. Processing the data of a child below that age is lawful only if and to the extent that consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child.

Following on from Senator Freeman's question, how does the common law of contracts apply to the Minister's proposed legislation? In other words, as I understand it, under Irish common law, which has not been updated for a long time, a minor does not have full capacity to contract. That is my understanding. In the circumstances in which the Minister is devising legislation, it seems, on the face of it, to give consent for the minor to enter into a contract to yield onto the relevant service provider whatever service it happens to be, personal details and enter into a contract.

Is there a distinction to be made here between where a transaction takes place or does not take place? Does the law supersede the new legislation, or does the new legislation supersede the law of the land as it relates to contract? I hope that makes sense.