Mr. Peter Horgan:

I just want to give an addendum to what I was talking about with data and the open data portal. Very often when data is mentioned, there is a knee-jerk reaction to say GDPR. Our two great excuses in Cork for not doing anything have been the Dunkettle Interchange and GDPR. The Dunkettle Interchange is done and GDPR is the only one that is left. In my area in Blackrock and Mahon, community CCTV is being installed for GDPR. I know this body and this House through my colleague Senator Wall and others. We lanced the boil of the GDPR issue with illegal dumping being brought into the circular economy Bill. There needs to be pushback against using GDPR as an excuse. The Dáil saw it a few years ago when GDPR came in with bodies suddenly saying TDs could not table parliamentary questions and could not make representations for people. That is starting to creep in again. It is stopping communities having confidence in local authorities and the Garda, which is put to the pin of its collar. They want to use the resources that are put there. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, gave €1 million last month for additional CCTV funding but it cannot be used because of GDPR. We need to push back against GDPR. It is designed to protect people, but it is being used to circumvent local authorities.