Mr. Darragh McShea:

I thank the Deputy for his question. I am speaking to a committee of Members of the Oireachtas and they would all be aware various public representatives hold different types of information. Some might continue to use pen and paper while others would be more sophisticated and use an electronic database of some description. We have a data protection officer who would work very closely with our public representatives. He has been in place for several years from when we have had a data protection officer, which is before the introduction of the legislation in 2018. We would ensure each candidate, be it for a general election or a local election, has the requisite training. The data protection officer does the training periodically to ensure that it is accurate and they are up to date. We would ensure the officer is available to each candidate and provides the training.

As to what is held on the databases, I cannot state that with any certainty on behalf of public representatives. However, I would stress the data protection officer in party headquarters centrally works with all candidates or the candidates for the Oireachtas or for Dáil Éireann locally and ensures they are aware of the obligations they must discharge, their duties to the data protection officer and to any potential constituents or people who contact them with representations.