Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No 1:

In page 10, lines 8 to 10, to delete all words from and including "excepting" in line 8 down to and including "data" in line 10.

These are technical amendments to section 7 concerning the interaction of this Bill with the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. Members will be aware there was substantial discussion in the Seanad on the application of this Bill to the special categories of personal data specified in Article 9 of the GDPR. This is in respect of personal data revealing a person's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or trade union membership, as well as their genetic and biometric data and data concerning their health, sex life and sexual orientation. On foot of this, the Seanad agreed an amendment which inserted a new section, section 5, which specifically prohibits the use of this legislation to share the special category data referred to. I also accepted a number of amendments to section 7 that provide that in the event of any part of the public service identity constituted special category data it would not be possible to share that data under this Bill.

Having discussed the amendments further with the Office of the Attorney General, I am proposing a technical amendment to this section. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 propose to delete the wording agreed in the Seanad and replace it with the wording proposed in amendment No. 3. The purpose of this wording is to create a specific definition of the public service identity for the purposes of this Bill that specifically excludes those special category data referred to. This has the same effect as provided for in the wording I am proposing be deleted but it has the advantage of making the application of the Bill to the public service identity easier to understand.

I ask the committee to support these amendments.