Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth

General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Fred Logue:

One of the foundational principles of EU law is that EU law takes primacy over national law, even national law of a constitutional nature. That has been the case for the past 50 years. This is not radical or groundbreaking jurisprudence. It is well known that this primacy is the case. It is also well known that all public authorities have a duty to disapply any national law that conflicts with EU law. If the Constitution, a judgment of the Supreme Court or a public authority, including the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla, is in conflict with EU law, they must disapply that law and give effect to EU law. This includes subject access requests. No matter what the I. O'T v. B case says, or what the Senator thinks it says, the I. O'T v. B case does not change the GDPR.