Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Whistleblower Allegations: Department of Health

Mr. Robert Watt:

Of course, it could be. Absolutely. The Data Protection Commission is doing the review and we are working with it on that. There are issues. The legal advice we have, and have had consistently, is that our approach to sharing data between co-defendants in legal cases is lawful. Of course, if it is the case that the Data Protection Commission finds that there are issues, we will put our hands up and say that we will have to do better. I wish to clarify a point that goes to the heart of the concerns of parents and the allegations which have undermined people's confidence in Government Departments, such as the Department of Health. The "Prime Time" programme did not just allege that there might have been breaches of data protection law; it made much more serious allegations than that. That is the point I am making this morning. It is very clear, based on all the work we have done over the last two months, that that is not the case.

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