Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Section 56 undermines Article 21 of the GDPR and the right to object. I acknowledge that the section refers to personal data rather than special categories of data such as political opinion, sexual orientation, ethnicity and so on. However, no provision in the GDPR allows the Government to deny data subjects the right to object to the processing of personal data. The Minister may object and state that I want to deny the Referendum Commission the ability to do its job but that would not happen with our amendment as the work of the Referendum Commission would be permitted as per Recital 69 of the GDPR and the reference therein to a compelling and legitimate interest. The Referendum Commission is a legitimate interest under the GDPR and section 56 of the Bill makes no difference to it. Section 56 is, therefore, unnecessary. Surely we should have the basic right to object if our data is being processed in an inappropriate manner for election purposes.