Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Whoever wrote that needs to learn how to construct English language sentences properly. My understanding is that when one is entitled, as we are under section 48 of the Act, to gather certain forms of information about voting intentions for the purposes of contesting elections - and that is what this is all about - one can do so for a specified period and, therefore, see, for example, whether one's vote is increasing or decreasing and then respond both as candidate and as a party in a constituency to ensure the work one does on the ground enables one to get elected. That is all prescribed within the relevant section of the Act, or my interpretation of the relevant section of the Act, in terms of the purpose for which this information is collected. Let me be clear that this information is used for no purpose other than getting people such as me and Deputy Gould elected. It is not cross-referenced with any other source of information or used for any other purpose. It is not given to anyone outside our canvass and campaign teams. I again point out that the Data Protection Commissioner is looking at all of this and it is that office, rather than any member of this committee, that will determine whether we are compliant or if we need to improve our systems.