Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I will ask a couple of questions based on my experience of the GDPR as a public representative. I am sure our visitors are aware that at the very end of the GDPR legislative process a number of amendments were made in the Seanad by the Government with regard to public representatives and Members of the Oireachtas dealing with statutory bodies. I believe many organisations do not respect these amendments. As an example, if my office receives a query about a third level grant and we engage with SUSI, the organisation that deals with third level grant applications on behalf of the Government, the person making the query must go on the SUSI website and name me as an advocate. In my view, this is a clear breach of the GDPR legislation. Have the witnesses come across this situation? Has the commission ever launched an investigation into Departments using the GDPR as an excuse with regard to engaging with people? Has an investigation ever been carried out on organisations that perhaps implement the GDPR legislation in a way that is not appropriate? Has the commission policed or looked at any examples of where the amendments made to the legislation regarding how public representatives engage with various Departments are implemented at local authority level or Department level?