Mr. John O'Dwyer:

That is no problem. I am more than happy to go through the information, and if I do not cover it all the Senator should feel free to come back to me again. My understanding is that the Commission negotiated the draft adequacy decisions with the UK, and then presented those decisions publicly on 19 February, which is about a week and a half ago. Those decisions were sent to the European Data Protection Board, EDPB, which is a group composed of data protection commissioners from across Europe. The process in place allows us to give an opinion, albeit that opinion is not binding on the Commission.

We will therefore be making recommendations to the Commission regarding the adequacy decisions if we feel there are gaps in that agreement that need to be closed. Equally, the member states in a Council context, which effectively means this area will be the responsibility of the Department of Justice, will look at this agreement as well and they will be asked to provide a formal opinion. A vote will then be taken on that formal opinion. The Commission will then decide on whether to adopt the adequacy decisions. The likelihood is that the European Commission will adopt the agreement, and it is in everybody's interests that it does so. Obviously, the situation will continue to be monitored.

If Senator Joe O'Reilly is asking me what anyone can do to assist in this process, we have our role and we will carry out that role as regulators. The Department of Justice, as a member of this Council group, has a role as well. If the Department of Justice, therefore, is happy to support this process and to show how happy it is to support it, then maybe it could lobby others to support the agreement in the same way. It will be a matter for the Department of Justice to take a stance on this issue. I am obviously not able to speak on the Department of Justice's behalf, but that Department will have the lead role in this process.