Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

With regard to the Department of Social and Family Affairs, I understand there is no evidence to suggest the information was used. The Minister provided a full and frank disclosure upon being notified of what had happened so the people concerned could take whatever precautions they wished to ensure their personal information would not be used by anybody in an unauthorised way. It is regrettable that theft happened, but I am sure whatever lessons are to be learned in terms of encryption arrangements will be learned.

On the issue of data protection legislation and the Data Protection Commission, perhaps a question directed to the Minister concerned would elicit the accurate information. One must balance the need to let people know of any infringement of their rights or privacy with the efficacy of being able to do so in terms of the number of people who may be affected. One may need to use other means to bring the matter to their attention so they can take whatever proactive steps they wish to ensure they are unaffected. This may provide the more practical means of assessing any damage or otherwise that arises as a result of these events happening.

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