Mr. Simon McGarr:

It would be better if individuals did not have to take the risk of litigation in order to have their rights upheld but we should look at where the Data Protection Commission has taken action and what has happened with that so far, which concerns the public services cards. There was a decision that the scheme of the public services cards was not compliant with the Data Protection Acts and the GDPR and it was challenged by the Department of Social Protection. That challenge has not yet been heard. We are 18 months on from the decision and are not yet at a hearing stage. Motion after motion has been sought, primarily with the effect - I will not say with the intention - of providing for further and further delay before the matter can be reached at hearing. We have a systemic problem if after an extended period of time of investigation, eventually the Data Protection Commission is in a position to make a decision and makes that decision but we are still looking at years.

This problem does not belong to the Data Protection Commission. This problem belongs to the State. It is the duty of the State to ensure there is an effective remedy for breaches of data protection legislation. A failure to provide for an effective remedy is itself a breach of EU law and can be the basis of complaints to the European Commission and so on. As matters stand, if everyone recognises there is a problem and we are looking for a solution, we should also recognise that the fact that there is acknowledged problem is in itself a breach of people's GDPR rights.