Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his appearance here today. As the Minister has laid out in his opening statement and as has been said by Senator Higgins, this is a very reasonable amendment. The Minister of State also mentioned in his opening statement how Article 23 of the data protection regulation, as well as section 60 of the Data Protection Act 2018, allow for rights to be restricted in certain circumstances in order to protect important objectives of general public interest.

The Minister of State noted that one of those identified is where there is a need to avoid obstructions to any official or legal inquiry, investigation or process. We can all appreciate a delay to an official investigation or inquiry would be a situation where the restriction of rights could be deemed legitimate.

I will ask the Minister of State about the appeal mechanism. He noted that for someone wishing to appeal a decision by the Information Commissioner that he or she has the avenue of the Data Protection Commission. The justification for restricting rights in this regard would be on the basis of the need. There should be no unnecessary delays to investigation, as was said earlier. That indicates that the appeals process would also need to be dealt with in a timely fashion.

It is quite reasonable. I do not have many questions on it. Will guarantees or timelines be set out, if there is an appeal, to make sure that there is not undue delay to such a process?