John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No, I will rattle on if the Chairman does not mind. The Minister spoke of the incredibly strong advice received from the Office of the Attorney General that the card is legal under all circumstances which she outlined. This is the same Attorney General who briefed the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, and his officials and whose advice led to the withdrawal of the mandatory requirement to use the PSC for the test for the driver licence.

The Minister mentioned taking two different interpretations of legal advice but does the Attorney General have two different interpretations of the legal status of the PSC? He seems to give two versions of what is legal. The Minister stated that she has received incredibly strong legal advice from the Attorney General and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, has indicated that he and his officials have been vindicated in the position they have taken to withdraw the requirement relating to PSCs following advice from the Attorney General.

Does the Minister truly believe that challenging the Data Protection Commissioner will have absolutely no repercussions in how multinationals based here will deal with the Government? There are genuine concerns around that. Does the Minister firmly believe there will be no such repercussions? The Minister is challenging the very strong ruling of the Data Protection Commission relating to the retention and sharing of data linked to the mandatory nature of the PSC. How far is the Minister prepared to go with this and how much of the taxpayers' money is she willing to waste in challenging the ruling?

The Minister indicates that the legal advice she received was in-house and we know the Attorney General had third-party legal advice. What formal questions were asked of the Attorney General by the Minister when her Department was considering the Data Protection Commissioner's report? The Minister mentioned in-house legal people but what qualifications do they possess? There are probably six Irish barristers who qualify as being legally expert in the field. It is quite interesting that all of them have said-----