Mr. Darragh McShea:

I thank the committee for the invitation to appear for it today. Our general secretary has a prior commitment this morning and sends his apologies to the committee. He has asked me to represent the party this morning. We have made a full statement, which has been submitted to the committee, but in light of the Chairman's request that we try to keep our opening statements to one or two minutes, I will shorten it accordingly.

The committee has invited political parties here today primarily to deal with the issue of the electoral register. It is our view that the recent revelations regarding the holding of a unique and growing database by one political party represents an abuse that flies in the face of the core principles which have underpinned our electoral and data protection laws for over 20 years.

The most recent case was met by repeated denials of the existence and nature of the database, as well as assertions of compliance. I acknowledge the significant work of Philip Ryan and the Irish Independenton this issue, work which is probably the reason we are today discussing this matter.

I want to be very clear. Fianna Fáil does not, has not and will not use the electoral register in the manner in which Sinn Féin does. We have not maintained, nor do we maintain, a national database of voters. We have had, for many years, a member of staff who has specialist qualifications and knowledge in the field of data protection. We go to great lengths to abide by the letter and spirit of the law. We appointed a qualified data protection officer prior to the enactment of the 2018 legislation. This was a legal requirement of all parties upon the enactment of the 2018 Act. As a party, we take our responsibilities and obligations in this area seriously. We are conscious that we have significant responsibilities and obligations to both the Data Protection Commissioner and to those whose data we hold, specifically our members and supporters.

There is no basis for allowing any party to maintain a large super database that links its own records with the electoral register and combines it with profiling from individual social media accounts. We do not believe, and we have been advised, that this was not the intention of the law enacted in 2018.

The electoral register exists in order that candidates can know the names of their electors. It is right and proper that candidates and political parties should know the electors eligible to vote in an election. It is, in fact, crucial for democracy. However, under no circumstances, should anyone be allowed to use the register as the foundation to construct a much bigger database, cross-referencing many sources to gather information about individuals, unbeknown to those individuals, for the purpose of micro-targeting them into the future.

It is our view that there is a need to introduce safeguards regarding databases in general. We believe registered political parties should be required to register all databases. This registration should include listing the persons with access to each database and the location of its management. Where a database includes any personal details, a proper and transparent data protection notice should be provided to individuals in advance of the storing of this information.

We know people, rightly, are increasingly conscious of the rights surrounding their personal data. We know people are worried about the ever-increasing risks with respect to their personal data. As a party, we will continue to take all steps necessary to comply with both the spirit and letter of the data protection laws. We strongly advocate that the tolerance of super databases, built centrally using the electoral register as the foundation, is not accepted.