Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will follow up on that because the role of the Data Protection Commission is not simply advisory. There is a legal responsibility and potential legal investigation. Section 45 of the 2004 Act states that if a tribunal is established to inquire into a matter that was within the commission's terms of reference, all evidence received by and all documents created by or for the commission should be made available to it either by the specified Minister, who would be this Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, if the commission has been dissolved, or by the commission if it is not already dissolved. It seems that the Act envisaged a situation in which a tribunal was to take place and a commission had not been dissolved. I am conscious of the investigations and tribunals we may well need regarding vaccinations, forced and unauthorised adoptions, and potential criminal or legal investigations. Will the commissioners be available? Will those who were involved, for example, in the tasks of the confidential committee and the summarising of testimonies be available? Will the hard materials, the hard drives and electronic devices used, be available to the Minister if he has to give them to a future tribunal, or indeed if he has to provide them in respect of a criminal investigation or a statutory investigation by the Data Protection Commissioner? I ask those questions because those are crucial issues and the Minister might answer them. We will have opportunities to engage in the future on the information and tracing legislation.

I will also mention the redress scheme. This points again to the fact that there must be no waivers or gagging orders.