David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will finish on this. I am not interested in nor have I sought to get into issues regarding data protection or even the legalities of all of this, because other people will make those judgments. I am looking here at the process and what Mr. Watt's Department has said was standard practice. I am also looking at the type of information which was held, some of which came through service providers. Some of the information was not known to the families involved. These were families, by the way, that were simply trying to get their children the resources and supports they need.

They should not have had to take the State to court at all. I see it as inappropriate in the first instance that people felt they had to go to court and then, regarding cases that were not settled, that information was coming from service providers and the HSE. There were a lot of semantics in Mr. Watt's opening statement as well in respect of stating that the Department did not directly seek information. Whether information was directly sought or not, the Department had the information and got it from third parties, service providers and from wherever it was received, and it was held on files. The families were not aware of that, and that troubles me.