Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Would the Senator mind giving me more information? I will certainly bring the matter to somebody's attention, but the last thing we need is to have somebody being hindered who wants to participate in a community employment scheme to be activated in full or part-time quality employment. The supports available encourage people into activation, training, education and, therefore, a career. I know that the Senator agrees with me in that regard. I am not interested in people finding low-paid, part-time work; rather, I am interested in them having access to a quality support system, involving education, activation and work experience to make sure they have a well paid career. From my perspective, that is no different from support that should be available to somebody who is a lone parent, whether male or female, or a married man or woman with one or 15 kids. Support services, including financial support, should be in place to support people to maintain and improve their living standards through education, activation and work experience.

Quality of employment is an issue that is prevalent. We are bringing employment rights legislation through the Houses which will enshrine certain rights for people who are in precarious and low-paid employment. It has been stalled somewhat on the basis of a body of work that needs to be completed on people with self-employed status. I am adamant that it is a priority for us and we will continue to work on it.

The Senator has brought the issue of pension tax relief to the committee's attention. It does not fall within my remit, but I am adamant that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will extend the benefits enjoyed in the private pension sector to the rest of the world. Once we finalise the new auto-enrolment scheme for the 65% of persons in the private sector who do not currently save anything towards their pension, we will be adamant about implementing it by our 2022 deadline.

The Senator is probably aware from comments in the media that we received a report from the Data Protection Commission, outlining the commissioner's concerns and comments. In fairness to her, she asked us not to discuss it with anybody, something which does not seem to have happened, given the content in the newspapers, but I will honour her wishes and not discuss it, except to say it is a very comprehensive document and that we are compiling a response to her within the deadlines. That response will be made public and the Senator can look at the concerns raised and our responses to them. As long as the Senator and I are here, we will have a different definition of a photograph. The only thing we collect is a photograph. We do not distinguish it as biometric data. While there are different definitions, our definition of biometric data does not include a photograph.