Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We dealt with many of the issues relating to the section during the debate on amendment No. 5. The amendment relates to the processing of sensitive categories of data, which can only be done in the substantial public interest. None of us will have a problem with the example cited by the Minister but we are concerned to head off that interpretation being stretched in the future based on the current definition. The Sinn Féin position is similar. We propose that regulations under the section should be examined by a body or organisation that has data protection expertise. Amendment No. 72 provides that anybody who wants to rely on the substantial public interest ground to process special category data should be a public authority. That is both a matter of principle and a matter of the public authorities having an obligation to appoint data protection officers.

We propose in amendment No. 74 that the data protection officer of the relevant public authority the Minister wants to give permission to process special category data has to conduct a privacy impact assessment on the proposal and refer it back to him or her whereupon he or she can take the findings on board and, if not, make a statement in the Houses as to why not. Sinn Féin's amendment is similar. Regulations would be referred in draft form to the DPC for his or her opinion and he or she would have three months to think about them and refer them back to the Minister. If the Sinn Féin amendment is considered to be drafted appropriately, I am happy to go with it over ours.

Amendment No. 76 is of a piece with our amendments Nos. 96 and 111, which we discussed earlier. It is about oversight.