Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I thank everyone for attending today. Having listened to the various statements, I would like to ask the Department officials about the possible use of the data available to them under the Act. Data is a highly valuable commodity, as they well know, and while it can be used in a proactive and positive way, it can also be used in a way that users may not have foreseen when the gathering system was set up. We are well aware of that. In this context, I have a few questions. Given the amount of data available to the Department under both the fertiliser database and national veterinary prescription system, and the granularity of the data down to individual vets, farmers, locations and even animals, is there capacity for the Department to use the system to regulate, limit or even prevent the sale or purchase of amounts or types of fertilisers to a farmer or the sale or purchase of prescription-only products to specific vets or farmers? Is there capacity under the Act for the Department to share the data from its database to any internal or external State agencies or commercial bodies? Finally, is there capacity for the information within the database to be referenced in investigations by State agencies or bodies into environmental or food-chain incidents?