Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their comprehensive answers. Following on from them, I wish to deal with practical examples. Mr. O'Dwyer referenced a company whose payroll was done across the Border. I would like to look at a company that has, for example, a division operating in the North and another operating in the South or a division here and another in England or Scotland and is gathering data in both jurisdictions.

Given the potential uncertainty in the coming period, what advice might the Data Protection Commission give to such a company?

My second question is around the nature of the data. Part of the problem is that people often think data amount simply to a case of a person tapping something in on a form, such as name, address, personal public service number and so on. However, increasingly data is around what is gathered on closed-circuit television. Mr. O'Dwyer has been helpful to me with such issues before. Anyway, we are looking at new technologies, including biometrics. This is particularly relevant in the surveillance society. Does the commission have concerns from a security point of view if the UK goes down a different route? I am unsure whether people think about data in those ways.

Finally, another current issue we are considering is around the question of the vaccine certificate. As we know, there are discussions about introducing what is potentially an EU-wide vaccine certificate for the purposes of travel and, more generally, for admission to events or even restaurants or bars. Do the commission representatives have any views on that? Is there divergence in the regimes? What if there is an EU vaccine certificate introduced but the UK decides to operate a separate or different regime concerning vaccine certification?