Ms Nessa Kelly:

This has been a top priority for the RSA since we identified the issues around data protection with the collision data set. Once the matter came to light, we engaged straightaway with our legal advisers and the Department to identify our route to regularise and put the legal basis in place to be able to receive the data, first and foremost, because we receive it from the Garda, and then to be able to share it onwards with organisations like the local authorities, the NTA, etc. In 2020, we immediately set about that activity of identifying our route forward. We did not just say we need to hold back and wait until we see how we put the legal requirement in place. We also engaged with the Department's roads management support office and our colleagues in the local authorities to say this is critical data that they need to receive in order to be able to make evidence-based decisions on investment in road safety. We actually agreed eight critical data fields from within the data set that we would continue to share with the Department and local authorities, through the LGMA, in the intervening period while we put the legal basis in place. From 2020, to establish that basis, we engaged with the Garda and all stakeholders. We completed a thorough review of each of those 161 data fields. We looked at the proportionality of the data being shared because some of it was special category and personal data, and we then looked to see what legal basis we could establish. We engaged with-----